Macoupin County, Illinois - Chapter 5: The Pioneer, 1911

Chapter 5: The Pioneer

Macoupin county has had its disputations over the question of who was the first settler within its borders. In this it has nothing on its neighbors. Probably not a county in the state but what has gone through the throes of doubt and indecision upon the same subject and if any one of them has ever reached a conclusion satisfactory to each and every disputant, then the old saying is really true that "wonders never cease."

In the case of Macoupin county, it is well settled that David Coop was in the county as early as the spring of 1815. John Reynolds, one of the first governors of the state, who wrote profusely and carefully of the early history of Illinois and in a work entitled "My Own Times" had this, among other things, to say of Macoupin's first settler: "Mr. Coop and family, in the spring of 1815, broke through the old Indian frontier of Madison county and settled in the limits of the present county of Macoupin." Governor Reynolds was one of the pioneers of the state, a man of large capacity and opportunity for learning events of importance pertinent to the history of the principal communities making component parts of the state, and by careful research gave to the productions of his pen a character and atmosphere that instilled confidence in his readers. History therefore ac-* credits David Coop and his family, consisting of his wife and four boys, John, David, Jr., William G., who afterwards became the first county treasurer of Macoupin, and Ransom, together with several daughters, with being the first settlers here. In the spring of 1815, the Coops set their stakes for a home on what has1 since been known as Coop's creek, near the center of Hilyard township, and here they remained until about 1825, when they removed to the locality designated as Coop's Mound, six miles northeast of Carlinville. The family remained at Coop's Mound for some years and then, becoming restless and probably cramped for room by incoming settlers, decamped and became the pioneers of an Iowa settlement.

To the early arrival in this locality of Seth T. Hodges and John Love, both of Alabama, almost at the same time as the Coops, must be attributed the doubts as to whom should be ascribed the title of first settler. Hodges and Love had immigrated from Tennessee to Madison county in 1814 and no doubt has arisen in the minds of former historians as to their coming to Macoupin in 1815. What time of the year first found them here is not recorded, but in the case of David Coop, the spring of 1815 is specifically stated. Another thing, Hodges and Love, even if they were here in 1815 before Coop, they did not take up a permanent settlement at that time, but were merely bent on hunting and taking observations with a view towards finding a suitable location. A year later, having returned to their homes, they brought their families and fixed habitations in Palmyra township. Seth Hodges became one of the "big" farmers of those early days and, it is said, produced 800 bushels of corn from a ten-acre tract of land in 1817. He was a "dead shot" with the rifle and became one of the prominent citizens of his day. Mr. Hodges was chosen as a member of the first commissioners' court and died from the effects of an accident by falling into a well.

John Love, who accompanied Hodges to this land of promise, was his life long friend. Love married Cynthia Seymore in Tennessee and with his wife and two children traveled from the south on horseback. Samuel Love, long a resident here, was born in the county in 1824, and John Jefferson Love in 1819, in Palmyra township.

Abram Fulk also married a Seymore and came to the county later in the year 1815. Richard Wilhelm,. whose wife was a Seymore, arrived in 1817 and settled on Cahokia creek, in Staunton township. John Powell, a son-in-law of David Coop, and Abram Fulk, settled in the northeastern part of Hilyard township in the fall of 1815; John C. Wood and Richard Wilhelm, with their families, settled in the county in 1817, and were the "first comers" that year.

Telemachus Camp was one of the arrivals in 1817. He was born in Georgia and later became a resident of Alabama, and thence came to the territory of Illinois. On August 18, 1819, he made the first entry of land in Macoupin county. In 1826 Mr. Camp changed his residence to the prairie southeast of Staunton, where he passed the remainder of his days. In the fall of the same year, John Seymore came to Macoupin county and settled on the same section of land on which his son-in-law, Richard Wilhelm, was located, in Staunton township. His death occurred at the home -of his son-in-law, John Love, in Palmyra township, where his wife also died.

Smith's creek; in Hilyard township, derived its name from Thomas Smith, who settled near its banks, in the southeastern part of the township, in 1818, the year in which Illinois was admitted as an integral part of the Union. At that time there were only ten families, or forty souls within the borders.

Richard Chapman, a native of North Carolina, came to Illinois in 1818 and settled in St. Clair county, where he remained until December, 1819, at which time he settled in Macoupin county, in what is now known as Dorchester township. At that time his own and two other families were the only settlers in this part of the state. Later, in 1821, Mr. Chapman settled in Staunton township and remained there until 1857.' His death occurred in 1872 at Carlinville, at the age of ninety. John D. Chapman came at the same time as Richard and the two families occupied one cabin with only one room until another could be built. In 1826 they left the timber and settled just east of what was known as the Sawyer place.

In September, 1820, Jesse Chapman, a ship carpenter and sailor by trade, "squatted" near his brothers, where he built a cabin. He remained here but a

In 1821 several families arrived to swell the settlement and in 1824 Jesse Chapman returned. Among those who came in 1821 were James B. Cowell, a farmer. Mr. Cowell was a native of North Carolina but before coming to Illinois had lived some time in Tennessee. He first settled in Madison county and from there moved to Macoupin. He only stayed here a year, when he returned to Madison but in another year came back and took up a permanent settlement.

Roger Snell, a native of North Carolina, with his wife Mary and family, moved to Macoupin county in 1821 and settled a mile west of the town of Staunton. He died in 1858. He, as well as Archibald Hoxsey, was among the early school teachers in this district. His son, Hosea Snell, attended the first school ever taught in Staunton township, which was held in a little log schoolhouse threequarters of a mile northwest of Staunton. In 1835 Hosea married Angelica Saw- - yer. In 1840 he removed to Bunker Hill prairie, where he entered land. His first wife died in 1836 and in 1838 he married Melinda Parisher, who died in 1847. In the same year John Cormack settled near Telemachus Camp but soon became dissatisfied and returned to Edwardsville. He did not remain there any great length of time before he was back in Macoupin cpunty.

Another immigrant about this time was Abraham Wyatt, of Tennessee, who built and for a short time occupied what became the first schoolhouse in the county He also became dissatisfied with the country and removed back to Tennessee but subsequently returned.

From Tennessee, in 1821, came Ephraim Powers and his family, with his sons-in-law, James Caulk and Joshua Perkins. The discomfitures of frontier life and the prevalence of disease caused dissatisfaction and they returned to their old home in the south but in 1824 were back in Macoupin county. Powers first settled on the place improved by Richard Wilhelm.

Lewis Cormack and his son William returned from Tennessee with James B. Cowell and at about the same time Abraham and Evan Smith, with their families, settled on the south side of Macoupin creek, near the line of the Chicago & Alton railroad.

To this same locality also came Shadrach Reddick and Daniel Deadrick, with their families, about this time. Reddick was a ranger in the war of 1812. Daniel Deadrick in 1835 moved to Missouri, where he died. His son, the Rev. D. P. Deadrick, "was born in this county in 1829.

At about the time these pioneers settled here William Wilcox became one of their number. He taught the first school held in the county in 1822, in Staunton township. It was held in a log cabin built by Abraham Wyatt and abandoned by him, as before stated. - Mr. Wilcox offered to teach the school, provided he could get fifteen pupils at two dollars per term, which offer was accepted. It was further agreed that he was to teach eight hours a day, five days in the week, for thirteen weeks. The course of study embraced writing, arithmetic, reading and spelling. The house was 14x16 feet, had one door but no window and was provided with a puncheon floor and fire place. The patrons furnished the seats and the teacher "boarded round." In 1823 Mr. Wilcox married Miss Polly Cormack and ceased to "board round."

From 1821 immigration increased. The fear of Indians had died away and the chief enemy the settler had to combat was the malarial diseases so prevalent in a new country. As will have been noticed, the settlers came from the Carolinas, Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky.

The following incident relating to William Wilcox may here be retold with interest to the reader. A large gray wolf attacked some chickens. Wilcox heard the commotion among his chickens and opened his cabin door and went out to discover the cause. He found the wolf in or near the coop. This wolf seemed determined to have a chicken, and when Wilcox attempted to drive it away, it flew at him and seized him by the leg, holding on until Wilcox choked it loose. From the wound which the wolf inflicted, Wilcox suffered greatly and from that time to his death had to use crutches when he walked. It was supposed that the wolf had hydrophobia, as a dog belonging to Wilcox that had fought the wolf, afterward died from that disease.

James and Matthew Hall were natives oft North Carolina and emigrated to Illinois in 1816, settling in Madison county. Shortly thereafter, James Hall settled in this county with the families of Seth T. Hodges and John Love. In 1823 he located on the creek about seven miles southwest of Carlinville. His brother, Matthew Hall, a blacksmith by trade, came to the county several years later. James Hall was a man of more than ordinary intellect and his muscular strength was beyond that of most men. His wife died in 1835 and he followed her some years later.

Theodoras Davis, a native of Kentucky, was one of the early Illinois pioneers. In the spring of 1823 he settled here with his wife and children, Theodoras, Jr., John L.. Belden, William H. H., Morgan, Oliver C., Porter, Polly, who became the wife of David Gregory, Sally, who married John Tomer, and Lavina, who married a Mr. Ward. The boys were noted for their skill as violinists. Theodoras married a widow, sister of John Burleson. John L. married a sister of Oliver W. Hall and Belden married Mary, a daughter of Seth T. Hodges. Theodoras Davis became a promihent and prosperous citizen of the county. Oliver died on the plains, while on his way to California. Belden moved to Missouri. Some of the family died here. Theodoras and others of the family moved to Iowa and some of the representatives of the family are still living in the county.

Isaac Hall, noted for his great strength, a brother of James and Matthew Hall, while living in Madison county heard of the sickness of his brother James. While visiting his brother, David Gregory, a neighbor, became violently sick and at the same time were his wife and two children upon a sick bed. James Hall sent his brother Isaac over to take care of the stricken family. Mr. Gregory died, and leaving the sick wife and children in the house, Isaac Hall, with his ax, went into the'woods and there split out rude puncheons for a coffin. Fitting the rude casket into the grave, he returned to the house and taking the corpse on his shoulder, he toiled with it up the hill, laid it in the coffin and covered it with mother earth.

Samuel Lair, with his family, consisting of wife and two boys, left his home in Madison county in 1823, or possibly sooner, and settled with his brother,

Charles Lair, Sr., on Otter creek. He eventually left Otter creek and built a log cabin west of the city of Carlinville near the Burke farm. Mr. Lair became a member of the second board of county commissioners. He was the father of Charles, Jr., John Austin and William Lair. William reared a large family, John moved to Missouri and Charles died.

About this time George Matthews erected a cabin and began to improve a farm near Seth T. Hodges' on Hodges' creek. Here he died. His widow afterward became the wife of Mr. Hodges.

As will have been noticed, John Pope, who came in 1823, sold his claim to Charles McVey. The latter was the first of the family to settle here. Others of the family came in 1826 from Tennessee and settled east of Coop's Mound. The family consisted of seven brothers. William arrived in 1831 ; Charles sold his claim to John Yowell ; the other boys were John, Nathan, Samuel Edley and Thomas. Their home was in what was known as Sherrill's fork, being named for John Sherrill who settled there at an early day. One of the boys served in the Black Hawk war. John and William died here. Edley and Charles moved to Missouri. One of William's sons, John Wesley McVey, became a well known citizen of Nilwood township.

Shaw's Point township derived its name from a Mr. Shaw, whose first name is not recorded. He settled in the township in 1824 or 1825, where he built a cabin and cultivated a few acres of land. As soon as other settlers began to come in he became dissatisfied and left for a newer country. His first neighbors in the township were Job Sperry and C. R. Hutton.

Andrew Hetrick came to Macoupin county in 1825 from Carrollton and built a small cabin on Negro Lick. With him was a wife and seven children. The same year also came Howard Finley and Mr. Branscomb, who settled in Bunker Hill township.

Lewis Solomon was a native of Kentucky, who came to Illinois in 1825 and settled in Morgan county, afterward coming to Macoupin county and locating in North Palmyra township, where he cleared a tract of government land. This he improved and made his home until his death, which occurred in 1849. He served as justice of the peace before the county was organized and was the first justice elected after it became a county. He married Sarah Bawd'en, who was a native of Franklin county. North Carolina. She preceded her husband in death a few months.

John Cummings, father of Captain Samuel Cummings, a native of Virginia, came to Macoupin with his wife, Lucinda (Elliott) Cummings, and family in 1825, settling on section 4, North Palmyra township. His wife died in 1838 and he followed her in 1844. They were the parents of ten children.

Thomas Judy arrived with his family in 1826 and settled in Western Mound township. He afterward married the widow of John Love. Samuel Judy came several years later and settled at the forks of Hodges' creek. Subsequently, he moved back to Madison county.

Oliver Brown, in 1826, came from Carrollton with his nephew, William Cowan and built a cabin ten feet square in Brighton township. Cowan was an Ohioan and was renowned for his giant like strength. It is said he had the ability to do the work of two men. His employer recognized this fact in 1834, when he paid him double wages throughout the year. Mr. Brown held a squatter's claim until 1827, when he entered the land,, a part of which is now the south and business portion of Brighton.

Old settlers were wont to speak in terms of respect and affection of John Harris, a man who became closely connected with the early history and development of Macoupin county, to which locality he emigrated in 1826, locating in the eastern part of the county, which was afterwards given the name of Harris Point. He was a brigadier general of militia in the Black Hawk war and became the first sheriff of Macoupin county. He was a man who was looked up to by his neighbors as having a superior judgment and better education than the majority of the people. For his second wife he married the widow of David Coop, Sr., the first settler of this county, who had removed to Iowa.

John Burleson was a stepbrother of Seth T. Hodges and came to this county in 1827. With him was his mother and other members of the family, all of whom were taken into the home of Hodges. .

In the fall of 1827 Ezekiel Ross settled in the county and built a cabin on Apple creek in Scottville township, into which he moved with his family on Christmas day.

William Brewer, a Virginian by birth, became a resident of Brighton in 1827 but in 1849 struck out for California to acquire some of the gold thousands of others were seeking.

Nathan Scarrett had settled seven miles south of the site of Brighton, on the line of the Chicago & Alton railroad, as early as 1827. This same year Bennett Tilley and family settled on Western Mound. They were natives of North Carolina. The same year William Smith and family located in the vicinity of the Tilleys.

The time of the advent of Joseph Borough is somewhat in doubt. It is presumed he came to the county in 1827. He was a Virginian and had moved to Madison county, Illinois. Mr. Borough settled east of Carlinville, where he lived and raised his family. He served the people as senator in the general assembly.

James Breden was one of the first settlers of Bunker Hill township. He was a native of Virginia. When nineteen years of age he went to Tennessee, where he was married to a Miss Anderson. In March, 1827, he came to Macoupin county arid settled on section 9, of the present Bunker Hill township, locating at the head of Wood river. Along that stream the remains of Indian lodges were still in existence. On this tract he built a log house, in which he lived until 1840. This home was replaced by another, where the old pioneer spent the rest of his days. His first wife having died, he married Mrs. Cynthia Ann Barrow, formerly Cynthia Ann Neaville, in 1836. She was the widow of William Barrow, a native of Kentucky, who settled on Dry Fork, near the Bunker Hill and Carlinville road, in 1827. William Barrow enlisted in the Black Hawk war and was in the campaign against the Indians in 1831. From the fact that he never returned, it is supposed that he was killed by the Indians.

Peter Akes, Sr., with his four grown sons, Alfred, Isaac, Peter, Jr., and John, and several daughters, were residents of Macoupin county in 1828.

Huriah Smith settled in Western Mound in the fall of 1828. His father, Richard Smith, and family, settled on Hodges' creek about that time, as did also Andrew Brownlee, who was one of the first justices of the peace.

William and Elizabeth (Sims) Nevins came to Macoupin county from Tennessee in 1828, and settled in North Palmyra township, where they spent the remainder of their days. They were the parents of nine children, among them being James Nevins, who came to the county with them. James Nevins became one of the prosperous and influential farmers of this section, owning at one time over a thousand acres of land in Macoupin and Montgomery counties.

Jacob Nifong was a southerner by birth, who married Letcy Sims, a native of Tennessee. After their marriage in 1825, they removed to Illinois and settled on section 7, North Palmyra township, in the year 1828. Here Jacob Nifong died February 2, 1844. His widow afterward married James Patton, and died in 1856.

Edmund C. Vancil, a Kentuckian by birth, moved to Sangamon county in 1827 and in 1828 settled in North Palmyra township. He put up the first horse mill in the north part of the county and also the first distillery. He possessed remarkable mechanical genius, manufactured his own boots and shoes, built his own wagons, constructed a superior flat boat and invented an excellent plow for breaking purposes. At the time he erected his dwelling in 1848 it was considered the finest farm residence in the county. In 1852 he erected a steam sawmill. His son, Imri B. Vancil, was born in Union county, Illinois, in 1825, and was raised in North Palmyra township. He became one of the largest landowners in the county.

John S. Greathouse, one of the pioneer lawyers of Macoupin county bar was a citizen of the village of Carlinville before the fall of 1829, as the records show he had purchased property of Joseph Borough in the fall of that year. He remained in Carlinville until 1846.

Samuel Harris, the father of twenty-six children, was also a settler here in 1829, as were also Norris Hayes, a farmer; Jairus Coddle, a farmer of North Carolina; James McFarland, a farmer of Tennessee; Aaron Tilley, brother of Bennett Tilley ; and William Barrett, who sold goods in the first store in the county in 1829.

James Bristow, a Virginian, came to Macoupin county from Tennessee in 1829, and settled on land which afterward was included in Scottville township. He brought with him his wife and four children. After purchasing the land from the government, he erected a log cabin, in which no nails were used and the door was hung on wooden hinges. It also had a wooden latch with the traditional latch string which hung outside in those early days. The cabin was furnished with the traditional puncheon floor.

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Robert Ross removed from Tennessee to Illinois in 1829, and for a while lived in Morgan county. He came to Macoupin county shortly after and bought a "squatter's" claim to a tract of land in South Palmyra township.

Ezekiel Good, who was said to have had enough character to mold a whole community, moved to Macoupin county from Greene county in the '203 and built a log house just east of the old plat of Carlinville. He acquired considerable property and died a comparatively young man. A number of representatives of the family are still living in the county.

John and Cynthia (Seymour) Love emigrated from Alabama to Illinois in early days. They first located in Madison county, remaining there but a few months, when they came to Macoupin county as early as before the '205 but at just what date cannot be determined. They made their home in what is now South Palmyra township but about the year 1828 removed to Morgan county. These worthy pioneers were parents of Samuel Love, who was born in South Palmyra township in the year 1822 and is given the distinction of being the first white child born in Macoupin county.

James and Rhoda (Regan) Husky, natives of Tennessee, were among the early settlers of Bird township, where they lived until their death. They were parents of thirteen children, of whom Mrs. Mary A. Easley was one. This lady became the wife of Isaac N. Edwards in Bird township, October 4, 1838. Mr. Edwards died in December, 1860, and in 1866 his widow married George W. Easley, who passed away in 1872.

In 1830, among others, came James Simmons, Arter Taylor, Mrs. Daniel Huddleston, Thomas Kinder, Abraham S. Walker and family, among whom was Hon. C. A. Walker; James B. Pinkard, Michael Brown, William Palmer, Brice Robertson, Susan Adams, Benjamin Adams, Mrs. Permelia Baird, David Holmes and wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Foster, Jarrett Dugger, J. A. Pepperdine, John Mc- Collum and parents, Giles M. Adams and parents, John Andrews, E. B. Clark, David Gimlin, a Baptist minister; and many others.

Newton Berry settled in the county in 1831 and was one of the first teachers. Among other settlers this year may be mentioned D. B. Sawyer, J. L. Plain, William McKinney, James B. Gray, Stith M. Otwell, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, John Gelder, Mrs. Elizabeth Edwards, Mrs. Job Sperry, William Phillips, John, Josiah, Jesse, Henry and C. C. Rhoads, Peter B. Karnes, Samuel Howard, John Kinder, the Huddlestons, Stephen Sawyer, Amos Snock, Rev. Levi Mitchell, a Baptist clergyman, the Weatherfords and Gimlins.

Dr. Gideon Blackburn, the founder of Blackburn University, arrived in the county in 1832 ; ako L. P. Stratton, William H. Carson, Richard Skaggs, Thomas Leach, Colonel J. R.- Miles, William Jolty, Mrs. Elizabeth Duckies, F. M. Adams, J. D. Wagner, Daniel Huddleston, Hampton W. Wall, William Hilyard.

John Morris, G. B. Carson, William Chism, James M. and Mrs. W. H. Carson, Thomas E. Carson. Captain James P. Pearson, who married Rebecca Gwin, a settler with her father's family in 1831; W. H. Rhoads, Mrs. Nancy Challacombe, Thomas Leach, James Raffurty and the Bostons, all came in 1832.

Elsewhere in this volume mention is made of the arrival of many of Macoupin county's pioneers who may be considered the first settlers. This chapter is devoted to many who took up their residence in the county in the '305.

Absalom Kent, a native of Pennsylvania and a pioneer of Ohio, came to Illinois about the year 1830 and settling in Macoupin county, bought land west of Carlinville. He was successful in the conduct of his affairs, eventually buying large tracts of land in different parts of the county. Absalom was the grandfather of Perrin Kent, one of the early settlers of Macoupin county, who came with his parents in 1840, settling in Virden township.

William C. Anderson was a son of William D. and Elizabeth (Hancock) Anderson, and was born in Carlinville, August 26, 1830. He eventually settled on section 9, Shaw's Point township.

Thomas Wood, of Virginia, was a settler in Macoupin county as early as 1830. He settled in Bunker Hill township. He was one of the first of three school trustees of this township and was one of the organizers of the division of the county.

Joseph England moved from Virginia to Tennessee and from the latter state to Illinois in 1830, stopping in Macoupin county for a time. With him was his wife and ten children. Mr. English bought a squatter's claim from the government in the vicinity of what is now known as North Otter township.

Samuel Bruce, a native of the Emerald isle, sailed from Belfast with his wife and several children, in 1830. Landing in New York, they came overland by team to Macoupin county, settling in Staunton township, near the village of that name, which then consisted of one store and a few houses.

Joseph Andrews was a soldier of the war of 1812, and married Susan Ellis. When their son John was in his third year the family moved to Todd county, Kentucky, and lived there until 1830, when they emigrated to Illinois, settling on the northeast corner of section 6. Brighton township. Here Joseph Andrews entered nine hundred and sixty acres of land, a part of it in Jersey county. John Andrews, in 1837, married Martha A. Miles, a daughter of Alexander Miles.

William T. and Clementina Duncan were both natives of Kentucky. Following the year of their marriage, in 1830, they came to Macoupin county and settled in Palmyra township. He had served as a soldier in the Black Hawk war. His son, James S. Duncan, was one of the early coroners of the county. William T. Duncan died in 1861 and his wife survived him a number of years.

Joseph and Abigail Holmes, natives of Virginia, he a soldier of the war of 1812, emigrated to Indiana in 1828 and thence to Illinois in 1830, when he settled in Carlinville. That year he built a cabin on the ground now occupied by the county jail. Carlinville then contained five families. He died in Indiana in 1834. His wife's death occurred in 1837. One of the sons, David Holmes, settled in Western Mound township in 1837 and there married Elizabeth Hubbard, daughter of Joel Hubbard, one of the early settlers of Macoupin county.

Elijah and Jane (Moore) Mitchell came to this county in the spring of 1831. settling in Brushy Mound township. He entered eighty acres of government land on section 24, on which was a cabin that had been abandoned by a squatter. This cabin he shortly afterward tore down and built another, which was eventually superseded by a frame house, where the pioneer lived until August 17, 1877, when his death occurred. Elijah Mitchell was twice married and was the father of twenty-one children, eighteen of whom were reared. Among them were Millie, Levi, Martha A., Elizabeth. Travis, Lucy and Sally (twins), Jane, William T., Phoebe and Elijah. William T. was born in Brushy Mound township, August 25, 1838. Travis M. Mitchell was born in Macoupin county, February 13, 1833, in his father's log cabin on section 24, in Brushy Mound township.

David Plain was born in Frederick county, Maryland, and became a settler of Macoupin county in the spring of 1831, taking up his residence in Shaw's Point township, where he at once selected a good tract of land. He cift poles and put the ends in the ground, letting the tops come together and covered them with boards rived by hand and thus made a temporary shelter, which with his family he occupied while he erected a hewed log house. He devoted his time principally to farming and lived in Shaw's Point township until his death in 1873. He left a family of ten children.

Robert and Martha (Proffitt) Scott arrived in Macoupin county from Indiana in 1831. Their daughter Mary married Thomas Anderson in Indiana and came with her husband and child, William Anderson, to Macoupin county in 1834, settling in what is now Honey Point township, where both died in middle life, Mrs. Anderson in 1838 and her husband in 1843.

Samuel Hays was a settler in Macoupin county as early as 1831, locating in South Otter township after his marriage to Rebecca Bond. In 1848 he moved to North Otter township, where his wife died in 1887.

Robert and Eliza W. Moore, natives of Kentucky, settled in Carlinville township in 1831. They were the parents of seven children, of whom Thomas G., the sixth in order of birth, was born in Carlinville township in 1838.

Henry Rhoads came to Macoupin county from Grayson county, Kentucky, in 1831 and settled in Chesterfield township. His wife died in 1835 and he followed her in 1854.

John Gelder, with his family, emigrated to America from England in 1831, and settled on a farm in Chesterfield township. He built a log cabin, which at the time of its construction was the largest building of its kind in the county, with the exception of the court house. He died in 1851 and his wife Elizabeth died in 1847. Mr. Gelder assisted in organizing the Episcopal church at Chesterfield and was one of its wardens until he died. Captain S. Gelder was a son and one of the pioneers of the county.

Daniel B. Sawyer emigrated to Illinois from North Carolina in 1831 and came directly to Dorchester township, this county, where he assisted his brother-in-law in building a log cabin. He married Minerva Scroggins in 1834.

John M. Hilyard. a native of Cable county, Virginia, born January 30, 1798, was one of the pioneer settlers of Macoupin county, locating in Hilyard township in 1831. where he entered eighty acres of land on section 22. His father had moved to Gillespie township three or four years previously. When the Hilyards settled in township 8, range 8. there were only two other families living in the township, John M. Hilyard, his father-in-law, James P. Gray and Erred Maxwell.

John R. Cundall was a native of Leeds, England, as was also his wife. He came to America in 1832, settling in Chesterfield township, where he engaged in farming.

Alexander Miles was a native of North Carolina. He was married in Tennessee to Mary Irvin, who was a native of Georgia, and with his wife and family settled in Macoupin county in 1832, becoming pioneers of Brighton township, where they lived and died. They were the parents of Colonel J. R. Miles, who was born in Kentucky in 1820 and came to this county with his parents. Colonel Miles built the first mill in the section of the county where he lived, and in October, 1867, founded the town of Miles Station, and it was largely through his influence that the Chicago & Alton railroad was built through the place. He became a man of large means and as a soldier deserved great credit. At the beginning of the Civil war he formed a company, which on the Qth of August, 1861, was organized as Company F of the Twenty-seventh Illinois Infantry, which saw much service under his captaincy. In 1862 he was promoted to the rank of colonel and participated in many important battles. Colonel Miles married Eliza A. Stratton, a native of Kentucky.

Samuel B. Clark, a native of Virginia, accompanied by his wife and eight children, came to Illinois in 1828. They first located near Edwardsville, where they resided until 1832. That year they moved to a farm one and a half miles west of Brighton, which Mr. Clark rented for one year. He then bought a tract of wild land in the same locality and built a hewed log cabin, splitting shakes for the roof. In 1835 he sold that and removed to a farm near Carlinville, on which he lived one year, and in 1836 settled in Brushy Mound township. He lived in this township until his death, which occurred in 1840. His wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Floyd, survived him but one year.

James Wheeler was a Kentuckian, who married Catherine Harland, also a Kentuckian. In the fall of 1832, accompanied by his wife, three children and five of his wife's brothers and sisters, Mr. Wheeler journeyed with teams to Illinois and located in Macoupin county, settling on land which his father-inlaw had purchased for him in Gillespie township. He was one of the pioneers of this locality. Where the town of Bunker Hill now stands there was but one building and that was a log cabin. Deer, wolves, wild turkeys and sand hill cranes were plentiful. The family moved into a log house that stood on the place. Mr. Wheeler bought government land near his home and was a resident of Gillespie township until his death.

Selick B. Sawyer was born in Carroll county, North Carolina, in 1821. He came with his parents, Valentine and Polly (Spence) Sawyer, to Macoupin county in 1832. A location was made by the family in the southern part of the' county at what is now West Prairie, near Williams creek.

Daniel Huddleston. a native of Ohio, settled in Gillespie township in 1832. His death occurred in 1865. He built a home on section 3. His wife was Rachel Huddleston, a daughter of William and Juda Huddleston, natives of Virginia and Kentucky, respectively. William and Juda Huddleston settled on government land in Gillespie township in 1830.

Samuel Wood came to Macoupin county with a double yoke of oxen and was thirty-four days upon the road, moving from Kentucky to Bunker Hill. He entered a farm of three hundred and twenty acres in Bunker Hill township in 1832, living there for over a half century.

David B. Boston was a Virginian by birth. He removed from Indiana in 1832 to Macoupin county, settling on section n, Nilwoocl township, where he entered eighty acres of land. His death occurred in 1853. In his family were five boys and five girls, of whom David B. was the fourth son.

Jasper Rice came to Macoupin county in 1832, settling in North Palmyra township. In 1833 he married Mary, daughter of Stephen Jones, who was a settler in Palmyra township as early as 1831.

David Henderson came from the Old Dominion in the fall of 1832 and settled on section 30, Barr township. His uncle, John Henderson, settled on section 20 at the same time. These were the first two settlements made in the southwest part of Barr township. J. W. Henderson, a son, was two years old at the time the family arrived here.

Thomas Jones emigrated to this country with his wife and family from England, in 1831, and settled in Dutchess county. New York, where they resided until the spring of 1833. That year found them in Brighton, where eventually a farm of one hundred and twenty acres of government land was secured and developed. He became prosperous and raised a large family of children.

Ferdinand Taggart was born April 6, 1812, in Shelby county, Kentucky. At .the age of eighteen he removed to Carrollton, Greene county, and there remained three years, learning the trade of brick making. He then came to Carlinville and opened a brickyard for the gentleman under whom he had learned his trade. This was in 1833, when Carlinville had a population of 20x3 and the buildings were mostly of logs, with mud and stick chimneys. There was not a brick building in the town and but one brick chimney. In 1835 he opened a brickyard for himself. He became a contractor and one of his first contracts was for the brick work on the court house, which was built in 1837. Mr. Taggart eventually engaged in merchandising in company with A. S. Walker and William Phelps. This firm also carried on a branch store at Taylorville. The last wife of Mr. Taggart was a sister of Hon. Charles A. Walker of Carlinville.

John G. Chiles, a native of Virginia, married Elizabeth F. Wills, of the same state. The family removed to Kentucky, whence they came to Macoupin county in 1833, settling on the line between North and South Palmyra. In 1845 tnev took up their residence in Bird township.

L. P. Stratton was born in New Hampshire in 1808 and learned the trade of a carpenter. In 1833 he came to Brown's prairie and entered forty acres of land a mile west of Brighton.

William Jones came to Macoupin county in 1833. He was a native of Wales and his birth occurred in 1817. He finally purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in Brighton township.

Joshua Peek was a' native of Virginia, who removed to Kentucky and there married Eliza Scott, a native of Ireland. In 1833 tne Peeks settled in Palmyra township and there entered one hundred and sixty acres of land. Mr. Peek died in 1851 and his wife in 1847.

Alexander McKim Dubois was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1812, and came to Carlinville on the 4th day of July, 1834. That year he opened a general store on the east side of the public square. He sold the store in 1836 and the following year was elected justice of the peace. In 1841 he was appointed clerk of the circuit court and in 1848 at the first election he became his own successor. Judge David Davis appointed him trustee of Blackburn College in 1855 and at the meeting of the board following he was made treasurer. In 1866 he was appointed by the county court one of the commissioners for the building of the Macoupin county court house and was made financial agent of the county for the sale of its bonds.

Solomon Steidley and wife, Rachel (Barr) Steidley, came from Frederick county, Virginia, to Macoupin county, in 1834, and settled in Barr township, where they lived until their death. Mr. Steidley passed away in 1848 and his wife followed him eight years later. Frederic Steidley, a son, came with his parents in 1834, at which time there were nine children in the family.

Colonel James Anderson, a Virginian, first came to Macoupin county from Kentucky, in June, 1834, when he entered a tract of land on section u, Carlinville township. He then went back to Kentucky for his family. On the I2th of the following October with his wife and six children he returned, bringing along a pair of oxen and wagon, two horses and a carriage. During the winter of that year he lived in a rented log house and in the meantime built a log cabin on his own land, riving boards for the roof and splitting puncheons for the floor. In the spring of 1835 the new home was occupied and the land opened for cultivation. He became an extensive trader in live stock, and prospered. His death occurred in 1851 from an attack of cholera. Thirteen days thereafter his wife followed him, from the same disease. To Colonel Anderson and his wife were born seven children, Crittenden, H. C, Uriah C., Erasmus S., Augustus E., Malcolm M., Henry C. and Mary A. Crittenden. H. C. Anderson was the founder of the C. H. C. Anderson banking house and died one of the wealthiest men of the county.

Thomas Arnett was born in North Carolina in 1804 and became a pioneer of Tennessee. He removed from the latter state in 1829 to Illinois, settling in Morgan county, from which locality he came to Macoupin county in 1834, settling in what is now Bird township. On the farm that he developed he spent his remaining days. His death occurred in 1876.

Benjamin Wheeler and wife came from Ohio in the fall of 1834 and settled in Bird township. His son, John Wheeler, was a member of the party and eventually became one of the prosperous and prominent citizens of Macoupin county, at one time possessing over a thousand acres of land.

Dudley Saunders came from Kentucky in 1834 on horseback and settled in Honey Point township, where he bought a tract of land on which was a log cabin. This farm he sold at an advance of two hundred dollars and bought another tract in Brushy Mound township, constituting one hundred acres. After two years he sold this land and bought on section 2, Honey Point township. In 1838 he was married to Elizabeth Huddleston, of Kentucky, who died in 1876. By this union there were ten children.

Peter Wagner, a native of Virginia, arrived in this county in 1834, when his son, Jacob D., was twenty years of age. With his wife and other children he settled on one hundred and sixty acres of land, which was situated not far from Prairie View. Here he and his wife passed their remaining days.

Amos Avery Hilyard, a pioneer of the county, died in 1878. He was a native of New Hampshire. He came west in 1832 and in 1834 purchased a farm on section 17 of the present Brighton township, on which he resided until his death.

Edmund Lee Woodrough, a native of Virginia, settled in Macoupin county near where the town of Gillespie now stands, in 1834. In 1858 he" was killed by the kick of a horse.

Thomas H. Stratton, whose birth place was in Tennessee, came from his native state to Illinois in 1834, settling in Shipman township. He worked on a farm for some time and then bought land, which he cultivated with success.

Thomas Dews, a native of Yorkshire, England, emigrated to America in 1829. In 1834 he made a trip to Illinois and in that year settled in Macoupin county upon eighty acres of land which he entered from the government in Western Mound township, taking up his permanent residence thereon in 1837. That year he was married to Sylvia Morris of this county and raised a family of six children.

Samuel V. Rhoads was born in Hardin county, Kentucky, in 1791. He was a soldier of the war of 1812 and one of the Kentucky volunteers under General Harrison, which took part in the battle of the Thames, when Tecumseh, the Indian chief, was killed. In 1834 he removed from Grayson county, Kentucky, and settled in Chesterfield township, about a mile from Rhoads Point, now known as Medora. About this time he began preaching and was instrumental in organizing several United Baptist churches in this part of Illinois, most of the churches of that denomination in Macoupin county having in fact been founded by him and his brother, the Rev. Jacob Rhoads. He died in 1877. Charles Rhoads, a son, married Nancy Cawood, whose father, Joshua B. Cawood, settled in North Palmyra township in 1838. He moved to Shipman township, south of Medora, and in 1845 to Hilyard township, where his death occurred the same fall.

Thomas M. Metcalf was a Kentuckian, his birth occurring on the loth of November, 1828. He came to Macoupin county with his father, William Metcalf, Jr., in the spring of 1835, settling in Western Mound township. There his father engaged in cultivating the soil until 1858, when he removed to Girard township. Later, in 1874, he took up his residence on section i in South Otter township. Thomas M. Metcalf was elected county treasurer in 1869 and reelected in

James A. McClure, a native of Virginia, came to Macoupin county from Kentucky in 1835 and settled on section 36 in Carlinville township, where he engaged in farming until 1844, when he was appointed to a position in the land department at Washington by President James K. Polk. He was reappointed by President Taylor and died -in 1849, while in office.

Daniel Blodget, a native of New Hampshire, settled in Brighton township in 1835. becoming one of its most successful merchants. He here married Ellen Jones, a native of England, whose parents were early settlers of Brighton township. After her death, Mr. Blodget married Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. Simon

Joel York removed from Tennessee with his family to Morgan county in 1828 and from there to Macoupin county in 1835, at which time he entered land near Carlinville. He died in 1847 upon a farm a mile farther east. His wife died two months later.

Haskins Trabue, accompanied by his wife and seven children, came to Macoupin county from Kentucky in 1835, settling in what is now Brushy Mound township, where he entered a tract of government land. Here he erected a small log house. In 1837 Mr. Trabue built a carding mill, the first concern of the kind in the county. He also farmed. His death occurred in 1860, and his wife, Olympia (Wilson) Trabue, also died the same year.

Peter Denby, Sr., came from Liverpool, England, in 1834, and first located in Morgan county, Illinois, where he rented land. In 1835 he visited South Palmyra township and entered government land on section 36, which was one of the finest tracts of the county. He lived here until his death, which occurred December 3, 1862. His wife had preceded him in 1847.

Joel and Miriam (Haycroft) Parker came from Kentucky in 1835, settling in Shipman township, where he died November 28, 1843. His widow became the .wife of Oliver C. Forwood. Benjamin E. Parker, a son, was born in Shipman township, October 9, 1839, where he grew to manhood.

Henry Solomon was born in Franklin county, North Carolina, and came with his father, Lewis Solomon, to Morgan county in 1825. In 1835 Henry sold his property in Morgan county and with the proceeds bought government land in South Palmyra township, this county, where he erected a log house. With the exception of one year he continued to occupy his farm until death closed his career at the ripe old age of seventy-six. He was twice married, the third child of his first wife being Rebecca Jane. She was the mother of Ariel M. Solomon, who was but four years of age when his father came to Illinois. Ariel continued an inmate of his father's home until he was twenty-four years old. When he was seventeen his father gave him fifty dollars and told him to do whatever he liked with it. The enterprising youth wisely invested it in forty acres of government land in South Palmyra township. Two years later his father gave him another fifty dollars, which he judiciously invested in forty acres in Barr township, adjoining his first entry. He never located on the land but eventually sold it at $5.25 per acre. He then bought one hundred and ten acres in Barr township and took up his residence there. In the fall of 1888 he removed to Palmyra.

Randall Clark at the age of twenty arrived in Macoupin county from his native state, South Carolina, in 1835. He finally settled on a farm on section 20, Gillespie township, where he lived many years.

John and Emily A. Lumpkin settled in Macoupin county in 1835. Mr. Lumpkin purchased a tract of wild land on time and located in Bird township, where he erected a log house, riving the boards to cover the roof, which was held in place by means of poles. The floor and door were made of split puncheons. Here James W. Lumpkin, who was for many years editor and proprietor of the Macoupin County Enquirer, was born November 15, 1836.

James P. Pearson located in Macoupin county in 1835. He was a native of England. After his arrival he married Tabitha Gwin, a daughter of Elias and Tabitha (Weather ford) Gwin, natives of South Carolina. and Kentucky, respectively. After the death of his wife, Mr. Gwin, with a family of ten sons and daughters, left Tennessee and in 1830 settled in Macoupin county.

Isaac B. Johnston was born in Kentucky and came to Macoupin county about the year 1835 from Madison county, this state, where he had previously resided for a short time. He settled in North Palmyra township, where in 1843 ne married Elizabeth Berry.

Joseph King was born in Todd county, Kentucky, and after his marriage came to Illinois with his wife and two children, in 1835. He settled in Macoupin county, where for a time he rented land and then entered forty acres of timber and brush land on section 32, North Palmyra township, on which he built a log cabin.

William Metcalf, Jr., was a Kentuckian ami arrived in Macoupin county on the 22d of April, 1835. He entered a quarter section of land in Barr township, also a part of a quarter section in Western Mound township. On the latter tract was a log house, which he and his family occupied.

George Wagner, a native of Maryland, arrived in Macoupin county in 1835, when his son, James E. Wagner, was but five years of age. He settled in Brighton township.

Moses Smith was born in Pennsylvania. He married Parmelia Aiken, a native of North Carolina. After his marriage ne came to Macoupin county from Tennessee in 1835, settling in North Palmyra township, where they spent the remainder of their lives. They were the parents of seven children.

His acquaintance with John Cavender, John Tilden and others, who had bought land in the vicinity of Bunker Hill, was the means of bringing Moses True to Macoupin county. He traveled from the east in an ordinary covered wagon and on Christmas day of 1835 arrived at the spot which is now the town site of Bunker Hill, then a wild prairie, inhabited by wolves. In January, 1836, he brought from St. Louis a wagon load of groceries and dry goods and opened the first store in Bunker Hill. His cabin on the west side of Washington street wa« the first hotel in' the town.

William Duckies, a native of England, arrived in the United States in 1834, and in the month of February, 1835, settled in Macoupin county on section 14, Chesterfield township.

Andrew Jackson Rose came with his parents, Enos and Rachel (Stout) Rose, from New Jersey, in 1835. The family settled on forty acres in section 21, Gillespie township.

Arter Taylor, a native of South Carolina, emigrated to Illinois in 1835 and in the spring of that year-settled in Gillespie township, where his sister Nancy, wife of Giles M. Adams, was then living. He married Sarah Ann Rose in 1836.

Howard Clark and his wife, Eliza J., with their children, removed to Illinois from Kentucky in 1831 and settled in Macoupin county, two and a half miles west of Brighton, in 1835. He passed the last years of his life in Brighton, where he died in 1866. His wife had preceded him in 1858.

Beatty T. Burke was a native of Jefferson county, Virginia, and was born in 1806. He arrived in Macoupin county in 1836 and purchased the grocery store of Jefferson Weatherford, at Carlinville. In 1837 he became major of militia and was always designated by that title. He was elected sheriff in 1838 and held the office twelve years. In 1852 he was elected to the state legislature and was defeated for the senate in 1854 by John M. Palmer. He was returned to the legislature in 1856, and in 1871 became senator, which office he held four years. He represented Carlinville on the first board of supervisors and held the office until his death, which occurred in 1876. Major Burke took first rank as one of the county's able and most trustworthy men.

Charles Holliday was a Methodist preacher of his day. He was a native of Pennsylvania and came to Macoupin county from Kentucky in 1836, at which time he entered land in Chesterfield township, where he acquired considerable property. While on his way to conference at Quincy, Illinois, in the fall of 1849, he was taken sick, and never recovered. He died the following year.

Henry Etter, Sr., was a native of Tennessee and came from, that state to Illinois in 1826, first locating in Greene county. In 1836 he disposed of his possessions there and settled in Macoupin county, buying a tract of land in Western Mound township. A log cabin stood on the place and a few acres of land had been tilled. In a short time he erected good frame buildings and had a valuable farm, upon which he spent his days in prosperity and contentment, departing this life in 1853.

John Keller, a native of Maryland, removed to Kentucky with his parents and there married. He found his way to Macoupin county in 1836 and became one of the pioneers of Chesterfield township, where he entered a tract of land. He spent the remainder of his days in the village of Chesterfield.

Joshua Ragan was a Virginian but went to Tennessee when a young man and was there married. In 1831 he removed to Missouri, where he lived until his removal to Illinois in 1836. In June of that year he came to Macoupin county and bought a claim in what is now Bird township.

Joseph B. Steidley was born in the Old Dominion, near Fredericksburg. In 1836 he came to Illinois with his wife and six children and bought a tract of land four miles from the present site of the village of Palmyra. On this land was a log house, in which Samuel R. Steidley was born, March 25, 1838. Joseph B. Steidley died in 1861, his first wife having preceded him in 1849.

George Caldwell, a native of Ireland, came from Philadelphia with his family to Macoupin county in 1836, and located on land in Staunton township. His death occurred at the home of his son Henry J. Caldwell, July 6, 1887, when he was eighty-five years of age.

Solomon and Elizabeth Groves were natives of Kentucky. They came to Macoupin county in the spring of 1836 and took up their residence in the then sparsely settled village of Carlinville, where Mr. Groves worked at his trade of carpentry.

Nathan D. Barber, who died in 1878, was a native of New Hampshire and came to Alton, Illinois, in 1836. In the winter of that year he removed to a farm a mile and a half north of Brighton, where he made his home until his death. In 1841 he married Emeline Moore, daughter of Captain James and Arethusa Moore,

Thomas Jefferson McReynolds was born in Kentucky- in 1803, and came to Illinois in 1832. The year 1836 found him in Macoupin county, where he entered the south half of section 31 in Honey Point township and also a tract in Brushy Mound township. On the latter tract of land he lived until his death, which occurred in 1869.

Robert Meatyard's birth place was in Dorcestershire, England. He came to the United States in the fall of 1835 and in the spring of 1836 settled in Shipman township, Macoupin county, where he entered land and commenced farming. The town of Piasa was afterward laid out and built upon a portion of the land originally entered by him.

J. W. Gilson, a native of Pennsylvania, married Miss M. Merrewether, a native of Louisville, Kentucky. In 1836, with his wife, he settled in Macoupin county, near Brighton, where he engaged in general merchandising, real estate and stock-raising. Mr. Gilson died in 1864 and his wife in 1873.

Francis G. Brown came to Macoupin county in 1837 from West Virginia and entered a tract of land on section 23, in what is now Western Mound township. Having removed to Tennessee, he brought his family from that state in 1838 to their new home, the journey being made on a flat boat on the waters of the Hoiton, Tennessee, Ohio and Mississippi rivers to within fifty miles of Paducah, Kentucky, thence by steamer to Alton and from there by team to their destination. Mr. Brown rented a log house on section 4, Bird township, in which the family lived until November. In 1851 he sold his farm and removed to Chesterfield, where he engaged in merchandising and kept a hotel. He died in 1878 at a ripe old age. His wife Mary preceded him in death in July, 1864.

Achilles Tongate, a native of Virginia, after having lived in Kentucky and Missouri, removed to Illinois in 1836. After spending a year in Morgan county he located near Palmyra with his wjfe and children. He was a good farmer and was amply rewarded for his industry and frugality. He reached the venerable age of ninety-three before answering the last call, surviving his wife but a few years.

Joseph and Candace Penn, both natives of North Carolina, arrived in Macoupin county in 1837 and settled in Shaw's Point township, where Mr. Penn died in 1840. His wife survived him seventeen years.

Lewis L. O'Neal, with his young bride, Elizabeth (Cram) O'Neal, came to Macoupin county from Morgan county in 1837, and in the spring of that year settled in North Palmyra township, on section 34, where Mr. O'Neal died in 1854.

Hugh Caldwell came to the United States from Derry, Ireland, in 1837. After a short stay in Philadelphia, he continued his journey west and settled in Staunton township, where his brother George had previously taken up a claim.

John A. Pettingill was born in New Hampshire. He came to Illinois in the fall of 1837, when twenty years of age. After visiting Bunker Hill, he went to Peoria and clerked in his brother's store until the spring of 1839, when he returned to Bunker Hill and began improving a farm one mile north of the village - the first farm ever opened on the prairie north of the town.

Jackson Sisson, of Culpeper county, Virginia, arrived in Macoupin county in 1837. In November of that year he settled on a farm on which was afterward built the principal part of the town of Gillespie.

Taylor G. Chase was a native of New Hampshire and in 1837 journeyed from that state by wagon to Macoupin county. He had previously, in 1833, entered one hundred and sixty acres of land on section 18 of the present Brighton township. In 1837 he brought with him his family and lived in a rented cabin on land on section 20, until the fall of 1839, when he settled on a quarter section he had entered.

Richard Bacon, a native of England, arrived in this country in 1835 and in the fall of 1837 settled in Carlinville. Shortly thereafter, he moved with his family to the Dr. Blackburn farm near Carlinville and lived there one year. He then moved to Chesterfield township and died there in 1839. In the spring of 1840, Mary K. Bacon, his wife, entered forty acres of land on section 19, South Otter township, where she lived for some years.

Joseph Listen came to Macoupin county from Marion county, Kentucky, settling near Eagle's Point, in North Palmyra township, where he remained until his death, which occurred January 31, 1877. Joseph B. Listen, a son, was born in Macoupin county, August 19, 1838. In 1866 he was elected sheriff of the county and fulfilled the duties of his office faithfully and well. He was a democrat, casting his first vote for Stephen A. Douglas in 1860.

Henry F. Martin became a resident of Brighton township, Macoupin county, in 1838. He was a native of Rhode Island. His father died about 1836 and the mother married Samuel Avis, who owned land in Brighton township, which was the occasion of Mr. Martin settling in Macoupin county.

Joseph Loomis, the father of Thaddeus L. William and Horace J. Loomis, came to Illinois with his family in 1838, settling on section i, Chesterfield township, where he engaged in farming quite extensively. He was the first man in the county to engage in the dairy business and made large quantities of cheese. He was mainly instrumental in founding the Chesterfield cemetery in 1848. He died in 1850.

Sargeant Gobble was born in Virginia in 1811. He arrived in the vicinity of Carrollton in 1832, where he married Amelia Johnson. In the fall of 1838 he settled in Scottville, which had been laid out three years previously. In 1844 and 1864 he was elected to the legislature from this district.

Edward H. Davis came to Macoupin county in 1839 and settled in Bunker Hill township. In 1840 he married Jane H. Cavender, daughter of Charles Cavender, who settled on an unbroken farm of one hundred and sixty acres just

Peter Edwards, a Virginian, removed from his native state to Kentucky and resided there until 1825, when he came to Illinois and settled in Morgan county. In 1839 he came to Macoupin county, entering eighty acres of land in Scottville township, where he resided until his death in 1847.

John Maze, a native of Tennessee, married Sarah Morrow, also a native of that state, and they emigrated to Greene county in the early '305. Shortly afterward they removed to Barr township in Macoupin county. Mr. Maze's death occurred some time after his removal here, while on a business trip to Kentucky. His daughter, Martha, married William J. Bates, a native of Tennessee, who was one of the pioneers of Macoupin county. Mr. Bates' death occurred September 16. 1890.

Henry J. Ferguson, a native of Ireland, arri.vecl in this country in the summer of 1839. Striking west from Philadelphia, he continued across the country until he arrived at Staunton, Macoupin county, which was then a small hamlet. Here he purchased a partially improved farm of forty acres and eventually became prosperous. He died in 1883 at the age of eighty years.

Horatio Adams emigrated from Kentucky to Illinois in 1828, and after a residence in Clay and Greene counties of some five or six years, came to Macoupin county, settling in Bird township. Here he continued to live until his death, which occurred in 1874.

Martin Dickerman, a native of Kentucky, was born in 1816 and came to Macoupin county with his widowed mother and six other children, when a young man.

John 'England and wife Linnie came from Tennessee to Macoupin county in the '305, having spent a year previous in Morgan county. They settled in North Otter township, where they lived until their death.

Samuel Smalley, of New Jersey, settled in Bunker Hill township in the '305, when the city of that name was a mere hamlet. Here he and his wife both died at an advanced age. On this farm their children and grandchildren were born, among the latter being. James H. Smalley, whose birth occurred in 1840.

Richard Wall was in Macoupin county before 1832. This is apparent from the records, as his son, Hampton W. Wall, was born on West prairie in Dorchester township, November 10, 1832. The latter, when four years of age, went to live with his maternal grandfather Telemachus Camp, who was one of the earliest settlers of Staunton township.

Elijah Mills, a native of North Carolina, emigrated to Illinois in 1829 and settled in Morgan county. Some time in the early '305 he came to Macoupin county and entered, land on section 6, South Palmyra township. After several changes he removed to Missouri and died there in 1869.

Samuel T. Mayo can hardly be placed in the category of those who settled in Macoupin county in the '305. He did not locate here until in 1843, but in 1835 spent a short time at a hotel of which Samuel Keller was the host. Mr. Mayo had stopped over in Carlinville to relieve the tedium of a horse-back journey from Carrollton back to his old home in Albermarle county, Virginia, where he remained until 1841, at which time he returned to Carrollton and entered the em- ploy of a merchant. While on his way there the coach, in which he was riding, stopped at a point in Jersey county to let off a lady passenger, and it was there Mr. Mayo met Elizabeth Palmer, his future wife.

In 1843 S. T. Mayo formed a partnership with the mercantile firm of Wright & Lynn of Carrollton and took charge of a branch of the concern, which he established here in 1843, in the building now occupied by the Sonneman shoe concern, on the east side of the public square. Taking into the store with him Nicholas (Nick) Boice, business increased from day to day and Mr. Mayo and those associated with him prospered. His biography, written by Professor [. D. Conley, from which these excerpts are made, speaks of him in a kindly and reverential spirit voicing the opinion of its author and the estimate of those who knew him well in that Mr. Mayo was an upright, honest man, and true as steel to friends and principles. His reputation for honesty and faithfulness reached the superlative degree and these characteristics of the man were given generous recognition by the many who placed the administration of their estates within his keeping. He retired from active business pursuits in 1857 and enjoyed the income from a competency until his death, which occurred on the eighty-eighth anniversary of his birth, November 24, 1906.

General John I. Rinaker is authority for the story that upon a certain occasion a great, strapping big fellow entered Mr. Mayo's store. The man was noted for his physical strength and prowess at wrestling and boasted before "Uncle Sam" of what he was capable of doing. This did not strike Mayo's fancy and grabbing the man he threw him sprawling upon the counter, very much to the surprise and evident satisfaction of all who saw the test of strength and agility of the unassuming storekeeper. This incident goes a long way in proving the assertion that S. T. Mayo was entitled to being credited with a goodly stock of courage. When he accompanied John M. Palmer on one of his campaigning tours, he fully expected to get into trouble. It was in the '505, and William T. Harris was running for congress. Palmer was billed to speak in opposition to Harris' election at Plainview. Harris was noted for his hotheadedness and the Plainview meeting was looked forward to with no little anxiety by the opposition. In part, as a means of protection to the speaker in case of trouble, B. T. Burke, James Fishback, James (or John) McWain, and Sam T. Mayo accompanied Palmer to the place of anticipated hostilities. There had been threats thrown out by Harris' partisans, but Palmer was fearless and amply able to care for himself and the fears of his henchmen were not realized. Mr. Mayo's birthplace was in Albermarle county, Virginia, and he knew Thomas Jefferson, philosopher and "Sage of Monticello," who lived in the same county.