Madison County, Illinois - Chapter 6, 1882 (part 1 of 3)

Pioneer Settlemenis

HE first time that the eye of civilized man ever rested on the soil of the present county of Madison was in the year 1673, Marquette and Joliet, on their voyage of exploration, reached the waters of the Mississippi on the seventeenth of June, and a few days afterward their canoes were gliding past the shores of the disr trict of country embracing what is now dian dare not gaze long. They are as large as a calf, with horus ou the head like a deer, a frightful look, red eyes, bearded like a tiger, the face somewhat like a man's, the body covered with scales, and the tail so long that it twice makes the turn of the body, passes over the head and down between the legs, ending at last in a fish's tail. Green, red, and a kind of black are the colors employed. On the whole these two monsters are so well painted that we could not believe any Indian to have been the designer, as good painters in France would find it hard to do so well ; besides this they are painted so high upon the rock that it is hard to get conveniently near to paint them. As we were discoursing of them, sailing gently down a beautiful still clear water, we heard the noise of a rapid, into which we were about to fall. I have seen nothing more frightful ; a mass of large trees, entire with branches, real floating islands, came rushing from the mouth of the river Pekitanoui (the Missouri,) so impetuously that we could not, without great danger, expose ourselves to pass across. The agitation was so great that the water was all muddy, and could not get clear. "

Such were the circumstances uoder which white men first saw this part of Illinois. The rocks, to which ^Marquette refers, were the precipitous blutfs which extend along the river northward from Alton. On the face of the bluff, just above the present city, were depicted the figure mentioned by Marquette, and with wiiich we connected the famous legend of the Piasa Bird.* These paintings must have been renewed by the Indians from time to time, for they seemed fresh on the settlement of the country in the present century. It is still within the memory of living men when every Indian, as he passed down the river in his canoe, discharged his arrow, or his rifle, at the representation of these monsters.

The French, who made such early settlements in the more southern counties of Randolph, St. Clair,and IMonroe, do not seem to have secured any permanent hold within the limits of Madison county. West of the Mississippi they pushed north to St. Louis (1764), to St. Charles (1769), and to Portage des Sioux (1799), but on the eastern side of the river they founded no new villages, probably from the fact that by the treaty of Fountalnbleau, 1762, Illinois had passed under English control. There is evidence that a Frenchman named Jean Baptiste Cardinal, had made a settlement, as early as the year 178"), at Piam, supposed to be the site of the present city of Alton. He there built a house and resiiled with his family, but was taken prisoner by the Indians, when his family were obliged to flee for refuge to the village of Cahokia. Reynolds mentions that, in the year 1800, there were a few French families residing on Big (or Chouteau) island in the Mississippi, while the report of the commissioners to examine the claims for land within the district of Ka-kaskia, shows that several early improvements had been made by the French in the southern and western part of the county, i Ou Chouteau island settlements were made by the t Michael Jones and E. Backus, commissioners appointed by Congress, repurte I on the 31st of December, 1809, that twelve ilalms lor land, within the limits of the present county of Madison,

French about 1750. An orchard was planted here, the trees of which had attained such size in 1820 that they must have been planted fifty, or sixty, years previous. In this orchard was a pear tree whose trunk in the year mentioned had grown to be a foot and a half in diameter. ' This orchard was planted by Chouteau from whom the island received the name by which it is now known. On both Chouteau and Cabaret islands some French residents of Cahokia raised large numbers of horses which they shipped in flat boats to New Orleans. The island was well adapted to this purpose, its exclusion from the main land preventing both the escape of the horses and their theft by the Indians. This orchard years ago succumbed to the floods of the Mississippi, as also did an old grave yard in which many of the early French residents were buried.

"Claim 1805. Original claimant, Alexis Buyatte ; present claimant, Nicholas Jarrot, 400 acres. Affirmed to the legal representative of A. Buyatte. Situate on the river I' Abbe nine miles above Cahokia. '' The river 1' Abbe here referred to derived its name from the monastery, or r Abbe, on Monk's mound, which was once called " Abbe Hill", even by the American settlers, and is what is now known as Cahokia creek. The claim, however, is really i-ome distance from Cahokia, on the bank of t he Mississippi in township three, range ten, near Kinder station, and opposite Cabaret i.4and.

"Claim -520. Original claimant, James Biswell, present claimant heirs ol Biswell, 400 acres, on Buck run, a branch of the Kaskaskia river, affirmed to the legal representatives." This claim is in the southwest corner of township three, range seven, and extends into St. Clair county.

" Claim 519. Original claimant, Alexander Denis; present claimant, William Bolin Whiteside; 400 acres, on Winn's run in the county of St. Clair (St. Clair and Randolph were then the only counties), beginning at a white walnut near Cummin's sugar camp. " This is in section twenty, township four, range eight, on the bluffs of the American Bottom, in what appears to have been considered at that time the most attractive part of the county, the ''Goshen" settlement.

Claim 5G1. Original claimant, Clement Drury ; present claimant, heir.-i of Samuel Worley ; 400 acres. Below the Narrows, below Hull's Station, to be located adjoining the patented militia rights of Samuel Worley and James McXabb, these rights having been located in the improvement." This is mostly in section six, of township three, range nine, and included one of the earliest improvements in the county, upon which pear trees were planted in the year 1790, or soon thereafter, which were standing more than ihree-cjuarters of a century afterward.

'' Claim 1841. Original claimant, Jacque Germain ; present claimant, Nicholas Jarrot; 400 acres, at 1' Abbe, thirteen miles above Cahokia. '' This is in section thirty-two of township three, range nine, on the borders of Horse Shoe lake, and not far distant from Venice.

" Claim 133. Original claimant, Jean Baptiste Gonville, alias Rappel lay ; present claimant, Nicholas Jarrot; 400 acres. Affirmed to Jarrot, situated at Cantine, about ten miles above Cahokia. " This claim includes r Abbe itself or Monk's Mound, on which was the monastery of the Monks of LaTrappe, who resided here from ISlOto 1813. It lies mostly in sections thirty-five and thirty-six of township three, range nine.

"Claim 1883. Original claimant, Joseph Hanson; present claimant, Nicholas Jarrot, 400 acres, affirmed to Jarrot, situated on Mamis 3Iensoui. " This lies mostly in section twenty-six, of township three, range nine, and on the borders of Horse Shoe lake, which, perhaps is identical with the Marais Mensoui.

James Kinkead by George H. Dougherty, 400 acres. In the Mississippi bottom, four or five miles above the ferry opposite Si. Louis. " This lies in township three, range ten, in sections twenty-five and twenty six, about two miles above Venice.

'' Claim 1855. Original claimant, Baptiste Lionais ; present claimant, Nichol.is Jarrot, 400 acres, affirmed." Situated opposite the mouth of the Missouri. The whole of this claim has been swept away by the waters of the river. It is in section thirty-two of township live, range nine.

'Claim 902. Original claimant, Isaac Levy; present claimant, Isaac Darnielle, 400 acres. On the river 1' Abbe, above Cahokia, about twelve miles near where the French church stood." The most of this claim lies in St. Clair county, a part in sections thirty-four and thirty-live, of township three, range nine, close to Cantine village.

'"Claim 1838. Original claimant, Michael Pichette; present claimant Nicholas Jarrot, 400 acres. At a place calletl 1' Abbe river, eight miles above Cahokia.'' The most of this claim lie? in section thirtyone, of township three, range nine.

"Claim 1653. Original claimant, Isaac West ; present claimant, Isaac West 400 acres. By the testimony of George Atchi.son and David Waddle, that this land on which the actual improvement was made had been included in the survey of James Piggott ; and by Alexander Waddle and Amos Squire that this claim had been surveyed about the year 1802, in the place where the said West now lives, affirmed. " This tract is partly in section nineteen, of township three, range eight.

The foregoing claims were awarded on account of actual improvements that had been made on the land included in the claim There were four species of land claims : >

FiR-sT. Ancient grants, or allotments, derived from former governments (French or British) or from tne Indians, under act of Congress of June twentieth, 1788. The commissioners were satisfied that no grants were authorized by the British government while in possession of the country. The French records had in great part been destroyed by the British officers, and the grants made by the French were proved lip by oral testimony. There were no grants of this class within the present territory of M.idison county.

Second. Donations to heads of families. Under the law of the twentieth of June 1788, a donation of four hundred acres of land not given lo each of the families living at either of the villages of Kaskaskia, Prarie de Kocher, Cahokia, Fort Chartres, or St. Phillips. Tbe commissioners construed this to provide for all those who had become heads of families from the peace of 1783 to the passage of the law in 1788. Claim 527, originally claimed by James Biswell, and confirmed to Ilia legal representatives ; 400 acres in township three, range seven.

TiiiRTi. Improvement Eights. Under the law of the third of March, 1791, where lands had been actually improved and cultivated, under a supposed grant by any commandant or court, it was directed that the claim should be confirmed, note.tceeding four hundred acres to any one person. The twelve claims above described belonged to this class. The commissioners construed "actual improvement and cultivation" to mean, not a mere marking or deadening of trees, but the actual raising of a crop, or crops, such, in their opinion, being a neces.sary proof of an intention to make a permanent establishment.

Fourth. Militia Eiglits. Under the act of March third, 1791, a grant of land, not exoeefling one hundred acres, was made to each person who had obtained no other donation of land from the United States, and who on the first day of .\Hgust, 1790, was enrolled in the militia, and had done militia duty

Commissioners Michael Jones, John Caldwell and Thom:is Sloo, on the fonrth of January, 1813, reported five other claims in Madison county which they recommended for confirmation on the ground of actual improvements having been made :

" Claim G02. Original claimant, Peter Casteline; confirmed by Gov. William 11. Harrison, to Peter Casteline; claimant before former board of commissioners, Peter CUsleliue, 250 acres. '' This lies muslly

"Claim 328. Original claimant, Isaac Enochs; confirmed by Gov. Harrison to Isaac Knochs, claimed before the former board of commissioners by Jacob Whiteside, 250 acres. " This tract is in sections four and nine of township four, range nine. Nearly all washed away.

" Claim 617. Original claimant, Abraham Rain ; confirmed by Gov. Harrison to the widow and heirs of Rain ; claimants before the former board of commissioners, Uel and Bolin Whiteside, 250 acres." This is in sections twenty and twenty-one of township four, range nine. On the surveys the name is spelled Kainer.

''Claim 756. Original claimant, John Sullivan ; confirmed by Gov. Harrison to Larkin Rutherford ; claimed before the former board of commissioners by Larkiu Rutherford, 440 arpents. This is mostly in sections eight an<l nine, of township five, range nine.

''Claim 544. Origin.il claimant, David Waddle; confirmed by Gov. Harri.son to David Waddle; claimed before the former boanl of commissioners by David Waddle, 250 acres." This lies mostly in suctions thirty-one and thirty-two of township four, range nine.

The commissioners on the 24th of February, 1810, discuss, "Claim 2056. John Edgar claims four arpents in front by forty in depth, at Piasa, so called, in virtue of an improvement said to have beeti made by J. Baptiste Cardinal, and the claim appears to have been conveyed to John Edgar by deed, dated 17th September, 1795, witnessed by La Violette, and acknowledged before William Morrison, April 10th of the same year, five months before its e.xecution. This board is fully impressed with the belief that the name of this witness was written by John Edgar. It is further remarkable, that, although the said Cardinal affixes his mark to the deed, the claimant (Edgar) adduces, in proof of the fairness of this transaction, a letter from .said Cardinal, dated the 29th of July, of the same year, oft<;ring him this land, which is signed by himself in a very good hand. It is further apparent, from the most respectable testimony, that no improvement in early times w;is here made."

-'This claim derives its validity from a confirmation made by Gov. St. Clair lo the said John Edgar. It is proved that about thirty years ago, Jean Bte. Cardinal lived at Piasa, five or six. leagues above Cahokia; that he built a hou.se, and resided there with his family; that he was taken prisoner by the Indians, when his family were obliged to abandon there, and retired to the village of Cahokia ; that no cultivation is recollected to have been observed. Should the foregoing claim be confirmed by Congress, the commissioners would recommend that the confirmation be to the said Cardinal, or his legal representatives, as the title papers of the said John Edgar appear not to be regular."

In the same report mention is made of claim 2079, confirmed by Gov. Harrison to John Edgar, by reason of an improvement said to have been made by Philip Gallaghen, for 400 acres. This claim was located in sections eight and seventeen of township four, range eight. The commissioners report that "The deponents state that they knew said Gallaghen, but know of no improvement made by him. ''

The greater part of the claims confirmed in Madison county were militia rights, given to every militia man enrolled and doing duty, .\ugust 1st. 1790. The following are contained in the report of the commissioners, dated December 31st, 1809.

Claim 1809. In township four, rjinge nine, a little above the old town of Madi.son, and now beneath the waters of the Missi.ssippi, 100 acres. Original claimant Jean Brugier Affirmed to Nicholas Jarrot.

Claim 1324. On the head waters of Judy's creek, mostly in sections twenty-two and twenty-three, of township four, range eight about two miles south of Edwardsville, 100 acres. Original claimant, Matliew Rene Bouvet. Affirmeil to James Haggin.

Claim 338. Four claims, afiirmed to Samuel Judy, were located together mostly in .sections thirty-two and thirty-three of township four, range eight. The original claimants were Louis Bibo, (Biboux on the surveys), Louis LaRaiiime, Jacob Judy, and Francois Ritcliie, 100 acres each, 400 in all. These claims were locatetl by Judy about the year 1800. On the farm whicli Judy improved an orchard was Fet out in the year 1802, or 1803, and a brick house, still standing, was built in the year 1808, the walls of which were cracked by the earthquake of lAW-

Claim 60o. In section five, of township three, range eight, adjoining claims of Samuel Judy. Original claimant, Louis Bison. Aflirmed to Ison Gillham, 100 acres.

Claim 2G03. In .section seventeen of township five, range nine, covering in part claim 20oG, and including the site of the former town of Milton, on Wood river, embracing a mill, 100 acres. Original claimant, George Biggs. AtBrined to John Whiteside.

Claim 98. In sections seven and eight of township four, range eiglit, on Cahokia creek near the mouth of Indian creek. In early days a mill site. Original claimant, Jean Beaulieu. Affirmed to Nicholas Jarrot, 100 acres. At the June terra of the Court of Common Pleas in 1815. we find a verdict of inque.st of John Robinson and others to the efttct that a mill dam seven feet high could be built without damage to any person's land.

Claim 1258. This location embraced the original claims of Francois Campeau, Pierre Martain Jr, Jean Bapliste Rappalais, Jaeque Mulolt, Louis Harmond, Joseph Poirier, Dennis Levertue, Philip Le Boeuf, Joseph Lamarch, Constant Longtemps, each of 100 acres, and all confirmed to John Rice Jones, and was in sections one and twelve of township three, range ten, "in the Mi.'fsissippi bottom, between Grand Isle and Presqne Isle, opposite Isle of Cattarot, bounded by the Mississippi West." Presque Isle is probably the peninsula on which Venice was situated, and the Isle of Cattarot is probably intentled for Isle of Cabaret, Isle de Cabaret, or Tavern Island, is the . probable meaning.

Claim 1258 (second). In sections four and five of township three range eight, and ''located in Goshen adjoining Samuel Judy and Lsham Gillham," 100 acres. Original claimant, Jean B. Girand alias Jean Pierre; claimed before the board of commis.sioners by John Rice Jones, and by him conveyed to Thomas Gillham.

Claim 485. In section tliirty-si.K of township three, on the south line of the county, range ten, "on the bank of the Mississippi adjoining Cahokia common." 100 acres claimed each by Pierre Clement and Antoine Labussiere, both affirmed to John Biggs.

Claim 752. On Cantine creek, part in sections thirty-one and thirty-two, of township three, range eight, and remainder in St. Clair county ; Claim 753, and Claim 765, described in the same manntr; Original claimants respectively Francois Deneme, Francis Colline, and Thomas Callahan; each claim of 100 acres, and all confirmed to John Blum.

Claim 754. Original claimant, J. B. Derousse St. Pierre. Affirmed to John Blum, 100 acres. Surveyed adjoining Lttienne Pensoneau, and probably in section thirty-five or thirty-six, of township three, range ten.

Claim 1061. Original claimant, John Whiteside, and claim 1745, original claimant, Elisha Harrington, 100 acres each. The first confirmed to John Whiteside and the second to Uel Whiteside, were surveyed on Cahokia Creek, in sections one and two, of township three range eight.

Claim 115. Original claimant, Charles Hebert, alius Cadieu, affirmed to Nicholas Jarrot, "on the bank of the Mississippi, about two miles below the mouth of M.ad river," (Wood River) is in seclions eight and nine of township four, range nine.

Claim 1851. Originally claimed by Baptiste Lecompte, and affirmed to Nicholas Jarrot, is in section seventeen of the same township near Madison Landing. Claim 1851, original claimant Barzle Lecompte, affirmed to Nicholas Jarrot, was surveyed in front of 1851, and included the .site of the old town of Madison. Claim 1880, >)rigioal claimant, Louis Menard, affirmed to Nicholas Jarrot, is in section eight of the same township. These claims have been swept away by the encroachments of the Mississippi.

Claim 1719. Original claimant Louis LeBrun, jr. Affirmed to Thomas Kirkpatrick, 100 acres. In section twenty-three of township four, range eight.

Claim 331. Original claimant, Francois Louval. Affirmed to Henry Cook. Situated on the waters of Judy's creek, the survey including the militia claim of William Young Whiteside, on the corners of sections four, five, eight and nine, of township three, range eight, near the claim of Samuel Judy in Goshen.

Claim 484. Original claimant, John Lisle. Affirmed to John Biggs, 100 acres, " located, begiuning at a stake on the banks of the Mississippi."

Claim 991. Original claimant, Pierre Lejoy. Affirmed to Thomas Kirkpatrick, 100 acres mostly is sections two and three of township four, range eight, and including the north-western part of Edwardsville. The commissioners note this claim as being three miles east of the Mississippi. It is about eight. At the house of Thomas Kirkpatrick on this claim the county court of Madison county held its first session on the fifth of .-Vpril, 1813.

Claim 599. Original claimant, Louis Rhelle. Affirmed to Benjamin Ca.ster line; and claim 600, original claimant, Levi Piggot, each of 100 acres, were located on Cantine Creek, near Colliusville, partly in section twenty-nine, of township three, range eight.

Claim 113. Original claimant, Joseph St. Ives. Affirmed to Nichola-s Jarrot, in section seventeen of township four range nine near Madison, has been washed away by the Mississippi.

Claim 330. Original claimant, William Young Whiteside. Affirmed to Henry Cook, 100 acres. Surveyed with claim of Francois Luval, 331, which see above.

Claim 545. Original claimant, David Waddle. Affirmed to David Waddle, 100 acres, and claim >10, original claimant, Alexander Waddle, Affirmed to Alexander Waddle, 100 acres were surveyed with other claims, and the improvement right of 250 acres of Daviil Waddle, and located mostly in sections thirty-one and thirty-two of township four, range nine.

Claim 548. Original claimant, Jean Baptiste Becket. Confirmed by Governor Harrison to Ettienne Pensoneau who was the claimant before the commissioners. In township three, range ten, covering part of the plat of the town of Venice.

Cl.-iim 549, adjoining 548, 100 acres. Original claimant, Augusle Belconr. Confirmed by Governor Harrison to the same, and by him conveyed to Ettienne Pensoneau.

Claim 609, 100 acres. In sections thirty-three and thirty-fi>ur of township three, range eight, just south of Colliusville, and e.ictending into St. Clair county. Original claimant, ClLirlas Francois Lancier affirmed to the same by Governor Harrison, and by whom conveyed to Thomas H. Talbot.

Claim 928. In sections sixteen, twenty, and twenty-one of township four, range eight on the bluffs. Original claimant, James Whiteside, and confirmed to him by Governor Harrison.

This comprises all the claims, located partly or entirely, within the present boundaries of Madison county. The list comprises sixlynine claim.s, incluled in forty-ei.;ht several surveys. Forty-nine are for 100 acres; thirteen for 400 acres; three for 250 acres; one for 160 arpents, and one for 440 arpents. Their location by townsliips is as follows :

Pioneer American Settlements

The district of country comprising the present county of Madison was explored by the Rev. David Badgley, and some others, in the year 1709. The luxuriant growth of grass and vegetation, evidence of the great fertility of the soil, reminded the explorers of the richness of the country, the best of the land of Egypt, in which the children of Israel had possessions, " and grew and multiplied exceedingly," and they called it Goshen. David Badgley was a Baptist preacher who came to Illinois in 1796, and settled in St. Clair county, a few miles north of Belleville, where he died in 1824. He was never a resident of this county. The first American settler to push beyond the frontier, and plant himself within the limits of what is now ]Madison county, was Ephraim Conner. This was in the year 1800, he built his rude cabin in the northwest corner of the present Collinsville township, but whether dissatisfied with his isolated position, or prompted by a roving spirit, peculiar to the early pioneers, he sought some now ' lodge in the vast wilderness." The next year, 1801, he disposed of his improvement to Samuel Judy, who became a permanent and valued citizen of the flourishing Goshen settlement, which the rapidly arriving immigrants in a few years brought into existence.

The Judy family is conspicuous in the early settlement of Illinois. Jacob Judy, the father of Samuel Judy, was born in Switzerland, and came to America when six years old. He was married in Frederick county, Maryland, and at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, " worked for the public," as an early chronicler says, " at the gunsmith business, for many years, and received nothing for it." He .started for the frontier regions of the west in the year 1786, with his family, then consisting of three children, and descerded the Ohio river to Kentucky. On his way, at the mouth of the Scioto, he heard Indians on the bank making noises to decoy him to the land, but he kept straight on his way down the river. His daughter, Nancy, then a girl of eighteen, steered the boat while the others rowed, with all possible speed, past the dangerous locality. He remained two years in Kentucky, near Louisville, and then set out for Illinois, making a voyage down the Ohio in a flat boat. The hostile Indians obliged him to seek protection up Cash river, in the present county of Alexander, where he remained seven weeks, until a boat could come from Kaskaskia to his relief. He lived at Kaksaskia four years ; in 1792 he moved to the New Design settlement in the present county of Monroe ; and in 1794 settled in Monroe county where he died in the year 1807. The place where he lived was widely known as Judy's mill. Samuel Judy, his only son, the pioneer of the family in Madison county, was born on the nineteenth of August 1773. He married Margaret Whiteside, a sister of Gen. Samuel Whiteside. In the early Indian troubles in Monroe county, Judy, then a young man of only twenty, displayed great activity and bravery, afterwards in the campaigns against the Indians, during the war of 1812-14, he was actively employed in the service. In 1812 he was in command of a company of spies, in advance of the main army, which proceeded against the Indians at the head of Peoria lake, and the next year, 1813, was captain of a company in the army of Gen. Howard. In the frontier skirmishes with the Indians, he was considered both active and efficient and prudent, and cautious. He was modest and unassuming in character, and would have preferred to serve as a private soldier in the ranks, had not his neighbors and friends insisted on his taking the responsible command to which they thought his experience and sterling qualtities of mind entitled him. He was elected a member from Madison county, in the fall of 1812, of the first legislature that onvened at Kaskaskia after the formation of the territorial governmeat. Although he had little education, and hai learned, barely more than to read and write, and this with some difficulty, the clear, sound, and solid judgmsnt with which nature had endowed him, his great common sense, and his character for honesty and integrity, made him a valuable member of this first legislative body of Illinois, in which his influence was scarcely surpassed by that of any other member. After the organization of Madison county he was one of the first county commissioners, and displayed great judgment, honesty, and economy, in managing the finances of the county. In his own private business affairs he c-xhibied the same prudence and foresight. He acquired wealth, but without speculation or doubtful practice. He raised large numbers of horses, cattle, hogs and sheep. On the establishment of the penitentiary at Alton, he was ap])ointed by Gov. John Reynolds, one of the board which had charge of the erection of the building and the placing of the penitentiary system in operation. Though not a member of any religious society, all the churches had the benefit of his good will and friendship, and he was moral and correct in his habits. In the excesses so common in his day - gaiiing, drinking, and light and frivolous amusements - he never indulged. He died in the year 1838.

The farm on which Judy settled was included in the militia claim, number three hundred and thirty-eight, and on it he made early and substantial improvements. The first, or second year after his arrival he set out an orchard. In 1808 he built a brick house, the walls of which were cracked by the earthquake of 1811, which is still standing in good condition. This was the first brick house erected within the limits of Madison county. Jacob Judy the oldest son of Samuel Judy, was register of the land office at Edwardsville from 1845 to 1849. Another son. Col. Thomas Judj', represented Madison county in the State legislature in 1852 and '53, and has been one of the best known citizens of the county.

The first settlement on the Six Mile prairie was made in the year 1801. A family named Wiggins 'settled here, and with them lived an unmarried man, Patrick Hanniberry.

In the early history of Madison county the most numerous family were the Gillhams. Thomas Gillham, the first of the family to come to America, was a native of Ireland.

He settled in Virginia about the year 1730, and afterward moved to South Corolina. He had eleven children, seven sons and four daughters : Ezekiel, Charles, Thomas, William, James, John, Isaac, Nancy, Mary, Sally, and Susannah. The original stock was Irish Presbyterian, though the descendants are now mostly of the Methodist faith.

The first of the family to behold the Illinois country was James Gillham, the fourth sou of Thomas Gillham. He came iu the summer of the year 1794 in search of his wife and cliildren, who were then held captive by the Indians. He had married Ann Barnett.in South Carolina, and at the close of the war of the Revolution moved to Kentucky* He conceived so favorable an opinion of Illinois that he made it his home in 1797, first settling in the American Bottim below St. Louis, and at the beginning of the present century moving to what is now Madi-son county. Congress, in 1815, gave to Mrs. Gillham one hundred and sixty acres of land at the head of Long Lake, iu township four, range nine, in testimony of the hardship and sufferings she endured during her captivity among the Indians. The children of James Gillham, were Samuel, Isaac, Jacob demons, James, Harvey, David M., Polly, Sally and Nancy. Samuel settled in section fifteen of township four, range nine ; and the other sons, Lsaac, Jacob demons, James, Harvey and David M., all made homes for themselves iu section four of the

* One day in the montli of June, 1790, while Mr. GilUiara wag plowing corn on his farm in Kentucky, and his son Isaac, then a .small boy, was clearing away with a hoe the clods which the plow might throw on the young stalks, a party of Kickapoo Indians stole up to the house, and captnred Gillham's wife and his three other children, whose ages ranged from four to twelve years. The field in which Mr. Gillham w.is at work was at some distance from the house, and it was not for some time that he discovered the misfortune which had befallen his fimily. In the meantime the Indians hurried away with their prisoners. Mrs. Gillham w.as so alarmed at the sudden appearance of the savages that she lost lier senses, and the first that she could recollect afterward was the voice of her oldest son, S imuel, .saying, " Mother, we are all prisoners." The Indians ripped open the beds, turned out the feathers, and converted the ticks into sacks into which they placed clulhing and such other articles as they could carry on their backs. They then hurried off in the direction of the Kickapoo town, near the head waters of the Sangamon river in Illinois, Their course avoided the settlements, and their anxiety to escape pursuit made them push forward without rest or food. The savages hurried them forward with fierce looks and threatening gestures. The children's feet became sore and bruised, and the mother tore her clothing to get rags in which to wrap them. The Indians had with them a small quantity of jerked veni.son which they gave the children, but neither they nor the mother, h.ad a particle of food, until one day after they had traveled some distance from the white settlements, the party made a halt, and two of their best hunters were dispatched to look for game. Towards night they returned with one poor raccoon. Mrs. Gillham, who was afraid that either the children would perish with hunger, or that the Indians would kill them to save them from starvation, afterward said that the sight of this one poor coon gave her more satisfaction at that time than any amount of wealth could furnish. The coon was dressed by singing oft" the hair over a blazing fire, and after throwing away the contents of the intestines, in w.as chopped in pieces, and with head, bones, skin, and entrails, boiled in a kettle and made into a kind of soup. The Indians and their captives sat around the kettle, and with bone spoons and forked sticks, obtained a scanty relief from starvation.

James Gillham wrote ti hi^ brothers in S )uth Carolina of the advantages of the Illinois country, and his brother, Thomas, left South Carolina in the fall of the year 1799, and reached the end of his journey on the closing day of the eighteenth century - thus ready to begin the new century in the new western world. Two other brothers, John and William, came to Illinois in the year 1802, both settling within the present boundaries of Madison county, and another brother, Isaac, followed a couple of years afterward.

The oldest son of Thomas Gillham was Isham Gillham, sheriff of Madison county, from 1812 to 1818. He first settled on a farm adjoining that of Colonel Samuel Judy, and in the spring of 1817 moved to the bank of the Mississippi, nearly opposite the luouth of the Missouri. Another son, William, settled on a farm in the liidge prairie, five miles east of Edwardsville. One of the daughters, Violet, married Joshua Vaughn, and settled in the American Bottom ; and another. Patsy, became the wife of Peter Hubbird, and moved to Bond county.

William Gillham, on coming to Illinois settled in the Si.x; mile prairie, as early as 1820, or 1822 ; he moved to Jersey county. His sons were John D., William, and Ezekiel. William became a resident of Scott county, and the two others lived in Jersey county. One of the daughters, Agnes, they might be discovered by white people passing down the river. They camped through the day in a thick wood near the.site of the town of Hawesville, Kentucky, and made three rafLs of dry logs, I;is!ied together with thongs of red elm bark, and at night crossed the river in safety. Once across the Ohio the Indians relaxed some of their caution, marched slower, and secured abundant food. Keeping to the right of the white settlement at Vincennes, they crossed the Wabash below Terre Haute, and marching through the present counties of Clark, Coles and Micon in this State, finally reached tha Indian town on Salt Creek about twenty miles east of north from the present city of Springfield.

Mr. Gillham on returning home from his work at noon found all about his house in confusion. Tlie feathers from the beds were scattered over the yard, and the mother and children were gone. It did not take a long time for a frontiersman to conjecture the fate of the family. It was plain that they had been taken prisoners by the Indians, and Mr. Gillham and his friends lost no time iu starting in pursuit. Their trail, as they left the clearing, was discovered, and in one or two pl.aces the footprints of Mrs Gillham and the children were visible. But the trail was again lost, and all their ctlorts to recover it were ineflectual. Mr. Gillham was obliged to abandon the pursuit, but he still entertained hope of one day recovering his wife and children. He sold his improvements in Kentucky, and visited Vincennes and Ka,skaskia, with the hope of enlisting the aid of the French traders, who had person.al knowledge of all the Indian tribes in the Northwest. The commencement of hostilities between the whites and Indians made his efTorts almost hopeless. After five years of disappointment he learned from some of the French traders that his family were among the Kiekapoos, and with two Frenchmen as interpreters and guides he visited the Indian town on Salt Creek, and found his wife and children, alive and well. The rans im was p:ii<l through an Irish trader .at Cahokia, named .Vtchinson. The younger son, demons, could not speak a word of English, and it was some time before he could be persuaded to leave the Indian country. In bis visit to Illinois, Mr. Gillham had become favorably impressed with the advantages of the country, and in 1797, two years after the recovering of his family, he became a resident of this State.

married John G. Lofton, one of the early judges of the court of com men pleas of Madison county. Sally married a Mr. Waddle, and subsequently a Mr. Jarvis. Jane became the wife of William Davidson. Peggy became the wife of Benjamin Steadmau, and Polly of Frank Kirkpatrick.

John Ciillham arrived in what is now Madison county on the tenth day of June, 1802, and first settled in section nineteen, township four, range eight, on the west bank of Crthokia creek, near the farms of Col Samuel Judy, and William Bolin Whiteside, and afterward removed to a farm in section one, township four, range nine, where he lived till his death in the year 1832 His oldest daughter, Jlargaret was married in South Carolina to Samuel Brown, who settled in section four, township four, range nine, and in 1830, moved to Scott county. Ann, his next daughter, was likewise married in South Carolina, to Isaiah Dunnagan, who made the first improvement in township five, range eight. James, the oldest son, married Polly Good, under the authority of the first marriage license issued in Madison county, and settled in section one, of township four, range nine. Ryderus C, another son, settled near his brother James. The other children were Thomas, Sarah, Charles, Elizabeth, Susannah, Polly, John and William. Sarah became the wife of Daniel Brown, and settled on the Cahokia, in section eighteen, township four, range eight. Susannah married William Ramsey, and moved to Scott county. Polly married Thomas Cox, and settled in section thirtysix, township five, range nine. John settled where Wanda station now is. He was a pioneer Methodist preacher and died in 1835. William was born in Tenne see in 1802, on the journey from South Carolina to Illinois. His home was in section thirty six, of township five, range nine. He was also a Methodist minister, and died of the cholera in Alton in 1853.

Isaac Gillham came to Illinois in 1804 or 1805, and settled in the American Bottom, in this county. His children were Thomas, John, James, William, Isaac, Polly, Margaret, Susannah, and Jane. Thomas settled within a short distauce of the old Six mile prairie Methodist Church ; John settled on an adjoining farm ; James moved to Scott county ; William improved the farm on which Dr T. J. Irish now resides, in township three, range nine ; Isaac lived on a farm near his brother Thomas ; Margaret married John Davidson, who lived on a farm adjoining the church proj)erty at Kinder ; Polly married Robert Whiteside, and removed from the county; Susannah became the wife of Hardy Willbanks, and emigrated to Texas; Jane, the youngest daughter, married Hiram Fish, and resided in township three, range nine.

Ezekiel Gillham. the oldest son of the original Thomas Gillham, was married in Virginia, and moved to what is now Oglethorpe county, Georgia. One of his sons and two of his daughters. Charles, Mary and Margaret, came to Illinois in 1803. Charles Gillham stttled the Phillips farm, southeast of Edwardsville, and his daughter, Lucretia, hecame the wife of John T. Lusk. Mary married Thomas Good in Georgia. Good settled two miles and a half south of Edwardsville. His wife was a Methodist, and on his farm were held the early Methodi.st camp meetings. Mar-

Sally, one of the daughters of the original Thomas Gillham, married in South Carolina John Davidson, who was killed in one of the battles of the Revolutionary war. Two of her sons, Thomas G., and William Davidson, and one of her daughters, Sally, came to Illinois, and settled in Madison county early in the present century.

Susannah, the youngest daughter of Thomas Gillham, married James Kirkpatrick in South Carolina. After an absence of months in the army during the war for Independence, he obtained permission to visit his family, which, on account of the strong Tory feeling in the neighborhood iu which he lived, he had to do by stealth. He had been home but a few minutes when as he was seated by his wife, surrounded by his children, he was shot through the window by a Tory and killed. The four olde.'?t sons of Mrs. Kirkpatrick James, Thomas, Franklin, and John came to Illinois, and figured prominently in the early settlement of Madison county.

The Gi'lhams were strong supporters of morality and order, and among the best citizens of the county. Though born in a slave State, they recognized the corrupting influence of slavery, and unalterably opposed its introduction into Illinois. The author of a history of the State, pub. lished in 1849, remarks that the convention party of 1824 owed its defeat to the Gillham family and their kinsmen who, almost in a solid phalanx, cast five hundred votes against the proposition to make Illinois a slave State.

" Thomas Gillham, the ancestor of the family in America, many of whose descendants were identified with the early settlement of Illinois during the last year of the last, and first years of the present century, was a native of Ireland. He was married there and with his wife and child, Charles, emigrated to America about the year 1730, and settled first in Virginia. His first wife dying there, he again married, and removed to South Carolina and settled in what was then known as Pendleton county, since divided into the counties of Pickens and Henderson.

His family consisted of eleven children, seven sons and four daughters, namely: Charles, Ezekiel, Thomas, William, James, John, Isaac, Nancy, Mary, Sally, and Susannah, and were Irish Presbyterians, though their descendants are now mostly j\Iethodists.

He, his sons and sons-in-law all served in the war for Indepenlence, during which two of his sons.ia-lavv lost their lives, namely, John David.«on and James Kirkpatrick.

The first of the family that beheld the Illinois country was James, the fourth son of Thomas Gillham, in quest of his wife and children then held captive by the Indians in the summer of 1794 - a history of which is given above. When he recovered his family from the Indians he was so pleased with the prairies of Illinois and happy in the results of his long and dangerous search, that he wrote his relations of his grand discovery rcque;4tiiig them to come. Accordingly, Thomas the third, aTid Isaac the youngest of the sjns of Thomas Gillham the 1st, left South Carolina in the foil and arrived at their journey's end on the last day of the eighteenth and rested quietly ou Illinois soil on the first day of the niuetejath century.

Thus they began the new century in the new world. James was here as before statt tl, and two others, John and William, arrived in 1802, both settling within the present boundaries of Madison county.

Charles, the first son, and his two eldest sisters remained in the old south state. Ezekiel, the second son, raised a large family, lour of whom emigrated to Illinois, namely, Charles, Mary, Ruth and Margaret.

Charles, son of Ezekiel, was the father of Mrs. Lucretia, wife of the late Hon. J. T. Lusk, and grandfather to Capt. G. C. Lusk and Mrs. Sarah Torrence, residing ia Edwardsville, where they were born. Ezekiel was the grandfather of the late Thomas and Davidson Good.

Themas Gillham, the oldest of the second family, married a Jliss McDaw and raised three sons, Lham, AVilliam and John T. ; and seven daughters, Jane, Margaret, Sally, Violet, Patsy and Agnes, several of whom either died young or never came to Illinois.

Isham, the oldest son, m^rried Rulh Vaughn Their family were Jonah K., Shadrach B., John, James Johnson, and a daughter Julia, all born and raised in Madison county. Only one, J J., is now living. He now lives in Jersey county. Isham first settled on a farm adjoining that of the late Samuel Judy, and, in April 1817, removed to the bank of the Missi>sippi river, nearly opposite the mouth of the Missouri. He was Sherifl'of the county from 1812 to 1818.

William, the second son of Thomas Gillham, Jr., married Mary Anderson and settled on a farm in Ri<lge prairie, five miles east of Edwardsville. Thtir children were Evaline, Cvrus, Isham, Valugand, Orsman. I am not aware of any of this family residing in the county at present. Violet married Joshua Vaughn and settled on the American Bottom near the bluft'. Patsy married Peter Hubbard and moved to Bond county. Agnes lived to be old and died single. Of the remainder (jf the lamily I have no history.

William, second son of Thomas Gillham, married Jane McDaw. Their sons were John D , William and Ezekiel. Their daughters were Agnes, Sally, Mary, Margaret and Jane. John D. has always lived in Jersey county ; his sons Marcus and Andrew still reside there I believe. William long since removed to Scott county. Ezekiel also lived in Jersey county, and is the grandfather of the Rev. John D. Gillham, now of Belleville. Agnes married John G. Lofton, and was the mother of the Rev. Thomas G. Lofton, the former owner of the great Orchard farm, four miles north of St. Louis on the Alton road. John G. Lofton was one of the first judges of the Court of Common Pleas of Madison county. Sally married a Mr. Waddle, raised four sons, named Alexander, Thomas, Andrew and William.

After Mr. W^addle's death, she again married a Mr. Jarvis, and was the mother of John Wesley and Fletcher Jarvis, and a daughter Lucinda. Although twice married afterward she had no more family. She always resided in Madison county.

Jane, the youngest daughter, married William Davidson, and was the mother of T. Sidney, now living near Venice, and Mr. Madison Davidson, who settled a farm near the prtsent residence of C. P. Smith in Fort Russell township, and died there in 1859 or '60.

James Gillham, the third son of Thomas Gillham, Sr. and Miss Ann Barnett, a sister of Capt. Barnett of Revolutionary fame, was married in the state of South Carolina in 1770, and at the close of the war for Independence removed to Kentucky.

Their children were as follows, viz: Samuel, Isaac, Jacob demons, James Harvey, David, Polly, Sally and Nancy. As befjre stated, Mr. Gillham first saw Illinois while in search of his captive family, and was so pleased with it that he determined to make it his future home, and did so from the summerof 1797, and in 1800 he settled in the American Bottom below St. Louis. In the latter part of the same year he, with his family removed to a tract of 160 acres of land that the United States in consideration of her great trials had bertowed upon his noble wife, where they continued to reside to the time of their death. Of this iamily we have the following : Stimuel, the oldtst son, married Anna Patterson and settled on the south half of section 15, township 4, range 9, west. This family consisted of five sons, viz: John P., James H., Isham Barnett, Dr. Samuel J., late of Carlyle, now deceased, and Gershom M., now res-iding in Carlyle. Their daughters wtre Adelaide, Louisa, first wife of late Samuel P. Gillham, Ruhama, and Nancy, the latter now living in jMascoutah, St. Clair county. Jsaae, the second son, married Nelly Patterson and .settled on the southeast quarter of section 4 in township No. 4 north, range nine west. This family consisted of five daughters, Sally, who was the wife and widow of Charles Bram, and also the wife of J. Miller JIurphy. Eliza, who was the wife of Phillip Day, Arilda and Indiana, the first and second wives of Isaiah Dunnagan, Jr., Zurah, who married a Mr. Douglas, and Ellen, the fiist wife of Micajah C. Gillham, and J. Franklin, A\ho died at the ape of 18 years. The third son, J. demons, married first Priscilla Patterson and settled in the same section, township and range.

Their children were John Patterson, now of Missouri, Harriet, now 5Irs. Rush, of this county, and Lucinda, first wife of the late James Sanders. His second wife was Miss Katy Harkleroad, sister of the late Isaac Harkleroad of this county. His children were J. Milton, Priscilla Gillham, now of Mississippi, and Maliuda, now the wife of James Coda of Madison.

J. Harvey, the fourth son of Samuel Gillham, married Polly Whiteside, and settled in the same section with his brothers. Their children were William, Sally, Samuel and Ann.

David M. married Polly Harkleroad, and settled also in the same section. They had two sons, Thomas and Mason. Polly, the oldest daughter of Samuel Gillham, married a Mr. Thomas, but raised no family. The others married and left the county, and are residents of the state of Mississippi.

John Gillham, the fourth son of Thomas Gillham, Sr., emigrated from South Carolina to Illinois, arriving in Monroe county on the 10th day of June, 1802, and settled in Madison county in set lion 19, township 4 north, range 8 west, just west of the farm of Col. Samuel Judy and Bolin Whitfside on the west bank of Cahokia creek, where he lived a few years and then removed to the northeast quarter of section 1, same township and range, where Mr. Sinclair now resides, where he lived until his death in March 18.32. He was married in South Carolina to Misj Sirah Clark, by whom he had twelve children, six sons and six daughters. Their names were in this order, Margaret, Ann, Thomas, James, Ryderus Clark, Sarah, Charles, Elizabeth, Susannah, Polly, John and W^illiam. jMargaret and Ann were married iu South Carolina, the former to Samuel Brown who settled on the northeast quarter of Section 4, township 4 north, range 9 west, where Mrs. William Emert now resides; selling out in 1830 and removing to Scott county. The latter to Jsaiah Dunnagan, who made the first improvements in township 5, ra' ge 8, now Fort Russell, upon the southwest quarter of section 31, where the parsonage stands at Wanda station. Their children were Joshua, now of Colorado, Thomas, Aimer, Joseph, Clark, Laiah and a daughter Louisa, the wife of Levi Stringer. Their desc* ndants are few and widely scattered, yet all married, settled, lived and died in Madison county, except Joshua, who alone is living. Thomas, the oldest sou of John Gillham, died single. James, the oldest sou, married Polly Good under authority of the first license of marriage issued iu the county, and settled on the southwest quarter of Section 1, township 4, range 9, now Chouteau. His family consis ed of four daughters; the oldest, Sally, became the Aife of Ryland Ballard, the second,

Polly Ann, was the wife of a Jackson Davidson, and afterward the wife of JefFv^rson Cox. The third, Nancy C. married Hugh Paul, and the fourth, Mirtha T., is the wife of Lemuel Siuthard and resides on the old homestead, the ouly one living.

Ryderus C, bast knowi as "R;d," f)r short, was first married to Susannah B own an! .settler! one quarter of a mile south of his br.>ther Jaina, iu Sjctiou 12, township 4, range 9, where he resiiled to the day of his death. He was a juror iu the first murder ease tried in this county. Their children were Lydia, who married James GiUhara, Sa nuel P., Rev. John, a Metho list minister, uow of Eldorado, Salin countv, Micajah C, Hannah, the first wife of Charles Sebastian, Sarah, now of Jersey county, and Susannah B , who was the first wife of Samuel Teter and afterward the wife of George S. Rice. By his .second marriage to Mrs. Ruhama Stockton, nee Patterson, his children were Ann, the wife of Elias Judy, Jara^s, now of Alton, Gershora P., deceased, JIary E., second wife of Jonah Good, E. Ellen, the wife of John Willson of Marion county and Ryderus Clark, Jr., now residing on the old homestead.

Charles, the third son of John GUlham, first married Misi C'elia Medford and raised two daughters, Sarah and Mary Ann, who married Joseph Tilton. Both died in early life. By his .second wife, Miss Mary Murphy, he had one daughter, Ann, uow the wife of David Klingle, Esq. Sally, the third daughter, married Daniel Brown, and settled on the banks of Cahokia creek in section 18, township 4, range 8. Their children were fohn, Charles, Samuel, I. Newton, D. Sanders, and James. I. N and James died young; a daughter, Susannah, married Jlr. McMurtra and resides in VanBuren, Arkansas. D. Sanders also lives there.

Charles married Miss Elizabeth Murphy, who is yet living. John married Elizabeth Vaughn, and Samuel married Miss Sebastian, and went to California iu 1849. Elizabeth, fourth daughter of John Gillham, married Micajah Cox and early located in Scott couuty. Their numerous descendants still reside there.

Susannah, fifth daughter, married William Ramsey and also located in Scott county, where they resided until 1840, when Mr. R. died. They had three children, .fohu, the oldest, Caroline, who became the wife of a Mr. Packwood, and Mary Anu, now the wife of Dr. Mahlon Turner, of Des Moines, Iowa. John was killed by accident on a steamship upon his return home from Cdlifornia, at the city of New Orleans, in 18.^0.

The sixth daughter, Polly, married Thomas Cox and settled upon the southeast corner of section 36, township 5, range 9 uow Wood river. Their children were Jefferson, John H. and William, all born and raised in this county.

John, fifth son of John Gillham, Sr., married Miss Phebe Dunnagan, and settled on the northeast quarter of section I, township 4, range 9, right where Wanda Station now stands. He was a pioneer Methodist preacher, and did what he could toward the advancement of the church, aided by a true Christian wife. They both died within a brief period in 1835, he at 37 she at 36 years of age, leaving five small children, who.se names were NarcLssa, who married Johnson Vaughn and mother of Mrs. M. H. Boals, of Alton. Mr. Vaughn dying she married George Q^iigley of Alton. Their children were Frank, John G. and Mac.

D.iuiel B , the oldest son, married first Miss E. Lucretia Smith, who lived only six years, leaving a daughter, M. Eliza, wife of Warren Lowe, Esq., of Upper Alton.

He again married Miss Virginia Harrison, by whom he has one son Willard T., and four daughters living, viz: Nannie Addean, Alice E , E Lillian and Virginia N. His second wife dyitig in 1872, in I87ii he was married to Adeline Harrison, sister of the second wife, who has no children.

She lived but a short time afterward. H. Eliza, third daughter, married Shed B. Gillham, now of Upper Alton. Shortly after they were married they removed to West Point, Iowa, where she died about four mouths afterward. Both the latter were graduates of the Jacksonville Female College and neither left children.

Jo.seph B , the .second son, emigrated to Calif )rnia in lS.o3. He there married a JIi.ss Adams aud died from a wound inflicted by a ma'i whom he had befriended across the plains by loaning him money, upon which to live, while serving upon him a writ as sherirt' of the county. He left two children.

William, sixth son of John Gillham, Sr., was born in the state of Tennessee while his parents were en route to Illinois in 1H02. He married Polly MeKinuey, and settled on the southeast quarter of section 36, township 5 range 9, Wood River. Tliey raised but two children, - sotis - John M. formerly of the Western House, Broadway, St. Louis, now of Leadville, Colorado, and Wm. E. Emaring of the Brunswick House, St. Louis. He was also a M 'tlo list minister, and died of cholera in the city of Alton, in ls.53, beloved by all. His wife survived him, but has now passed awa)'. All of the above named desceudauts of John Gillham, Sr., have numerous descenda its now scattered over the wide domain of the United States, a complete history of which would make a large volume.

Isaac, the fifth son of Thomas Gillham, was married in South Carolina to Miss Jane Kirkpatrick, emigrated to Illinois in 1804 or 5 and settled on the American Bottom in Madison county. Most of his children were born in the old South State. Their names were Thomas, John, James, William and Isaac, Polly, Margaret, Susannah and Jane. Thomas married Letitia Davidson and settled near the [)lank road from Edwardsville to St. Louis, about three and onehalf miles northeast from the latter, and within a few hundred feet of the old Six-mile Methodist church. Their children were Newton, now of Oregon, Lewallen, deceased James G., of Des Moines, Iowa, Shadrach B., of Upper Alton, Minerva and Lucretia, the wives of Gabriel and James Marlow, both deceased, and Margaret wife of W. C. Linn, of California. John, second son of Isaac Gillham, Sr., married Elizabeth Gillham and settled on the farm just west of his brother Thomas. Their children were Jane, Madison, Julia and John.

James, third son of Isaac Gillham, Sr., married Polly Lofton, and early in the century removed to Scott county. Their children were Leroy, Wesley, both deceased, Jud.;es Erastus, and William, now of Scott county, Margaret, widow of the late Dr. Kersey, of Winchester, and Jaue, wife of Je-se Newman, of Jacksonville.

William, fourth son of Isaac, Sr., married Barbara Heaton and .settled the farm now owned and resided upon by Dr. T. J. Irish, in Nameoki township. Their children were J Addison and Louisa the wife of T. Sidney Davidson of this county. His first wife dying, he married Miss Marian Davidson. Their children were Thomas and Mary .Jane. Isaac, Jr., third son of Isaac, Sr., married Rebecca Hayden and settled on a farm just east of and near his brother Tiiomas. Their only child, James A., now of Brighton, with whom his mother still resides.

Margaret, the first daughter of Isaac Gillham, Sr., married John Davidson and settled the farm adjoining the church property at Kiuder. Their only son, MiJton, was the father of John E. Davidson, of Golden, Col. Mrs. Maggie Mc- Carty, of Arizona and Mi.ss Mattie Davidson, of St. Louis. Mr. David.son dying, she bjc.imj the wife of Calvin Kinder, aud was probably as well known as any woman ever living iu the county. Polly married Robert Whiteside and left this county. Susaunah, third daughter of Isaac, Sr., married Hardy Willhanks and emigrated to Texas at an early day. Jaue, fourth daughter of Isaac Gillham, Sr., married

Sally, eldest daughter of Thomas Gillhani, Sr., married John Davidson in South Carolina. Their children were Samuel, Thomas, George, William, Susannah and Sally. Samuel and Susannah did not come to Illinois. Thomas G. married in South Carolina, and early came to Illinois with his brothers George and William and his sister Sally. His children by his first wife were Letitia, wife of Thomas Gillham, Jr., and mother of S. B. Gillham of Upper Alton, Ephraiiu William and Dovey, widow of Alexander Bell. She now resides at Exeter, Scott county. His first wife dying, he married Polly Stanford and settled just on top of the blutf where J. H. Kendall now resides. Their children were Beverly A., and Clayton T., vho long lived on the old homestead. Matilda, who was the first wife of Joshua Duunagan, married the second wife of William Gillham. Jane, the wife of Walker Delaplain, who settled, lived and died near Venice. Sinai, the wife of the late Sidney Smith and the mother of Mr. Shed. B. Gillham, Mrs. W. C. Hadley, and William Smith, Esq., of CoUinsville ; Sopronia, the fii>t wife of George S. Rice; and Elvira, the wife of Abner Duunagan and mother of W. H. and Miss Mattie Dunnagan of this county. Thomas G. Davidson was one of the firi-t justices of Madison county.

WilUiam, second son of John Davidson, married Hannah Bunkhead and early came to Illinois. Their children were Ishara, James, Andrew, I]lizabeth, who became the wife of Thomas G. Dunnagan, and S. Milicent, second wife of J. Clark Dunnagan, both yet residing on the old homestead in section 1 and '2, township 4, range 9.

George, the third son of John Davidson, married Miss Jane Lusk. Susannah married a man by the name of Lusk. They did not come to Illinois. John Davidson, husband of Sally Gillham, as above, was killed iu battle in the Revolutionary War.

Susannah, youngest daughter of Thomas Gillham, the 1st, married James Kirkpatiick in South Carolina. After having been away from his home, in the army of the revolution for months, he obtained permission to visit his family which, on account of Toryism, he had to do by stealth. He had been at home but a few minutes when, sitting upon his wife's knees, surrounded by his children, he was shot and killed by a Tory named Pruitt, who fired through a window. They had five children, viz: James, Thomas, Franklin, John and Polly. Mrs. Kirkpatrick again married a man by the name of Scott, and raised a sou Joseph. She, her daughter, and youngest son never came to Illinois. Her older sons, fouf in number, all came to Illinois at an early day, and figure prominently in the early settlement of Madison county. Their descendants are to be found in many portions of the state iu Bond, Adams, Morgan and other counties."

Thus I have imperfectly sketched the history of the family to the second generation in Illinois only, which is all that space will admit which from the meagre and somewhat contradictory data at hand, must of necessity contain mistakes or errors. Were it continued to the present day it would supply material for a large volume, and while this is in no sense a history of the family, it is as correct as I think it possible at this late day to make it, and it will enable the descendants of the diflerent branches of the family to take up the thread in each and carry it down."

Among the accessions to the population of the southern part of the county, in the year 1802, were members of the White.ide family, who moved up from Monroe county. The

Whitesides, in early times, were celebrated for their bravery and daring in the troubles between the white settlers and the Indians. They were of Irish descent. W'illiam Whiteside, the leader and pioneer of the family in Illinois, was a soldier in the Revolution, and took part in the battle of King's Mountain. From the frontiers of North Carolina he emigrated to Kentucky, and thence in the year 1793 he came to Illinois He settled iu the present county of Monroe, and built a fort on the road between Cahokia and Kaskaskia, (about half way between the present towns of Columbia and Waterloo), which became widely known as " Whiteside's Station." His brother, John Whiteside, who came to Illinois at the same time, had also been a Revolutionary soldier. Colonel William Whiteside was justice of the peace, and judge of the court of common pleas of j\[onroe county. In the war of 1812-14, he was active in organizing the militia. He died at the old station in 1815.

The Whitesides had been neighbors of the Jud3's in Monroe county, and coming to the Goshen settlement they selected a location not far from Samuel Judy. The wife of the latter was a sister to Samuel Whiteside. Samuel and Joel Whiteside, .sons of John Whiteside, settled in the northeast part of the present CoUinsville township, and made the first improvements on the Ridge prairie. The other settlers, who preceded them, had all made their homes at the foot of the bluff, and in the American Bottom. Samuel Whiteside was a representative from Madison county in the first legislature which met after the admission of Illinois into the Union as a State. He commanded a company of rangers in the campaigns against the Indians during the war of 1812-14. In the Black Hawk war he was commissioned by Governor Reynolds a brigadier-general. William B. Whiteside, who for many years filled the office of sheriff" of Madison county, was a sou of Col. William Whiteside ; he was born in North Carolina, and was a mere lad when he accompanied his father to Illinois in 1793. He was raised on the frontier, without many opportunities for education, but " possessed a strong and sprightly intellect, and a benevolence rarely equalled." He was a captain of one of the companies of United States rangers, organized in 1813. John Reynolds, afterward governor of the state, and three of his brothers were members of this company, as also were a large number of the early residents of Madison county. On the twenty-fourth of July, 1802, two men, named Alexaniler Dennis, and John Van Meter, were murdered by the Indians in the Goshen settlement, southwest of Edwardsville, not far from where the Cahokia creek emerges from the bluff, at the place afterward known as Nix's ford. This murder was committed by a band of Pottawatamies, led by their chief, Turkey Foot, an evil-disposed and cruel savage. Turkey Foot and his band were returning from Cahokia to their town in the northern part of Illinois, and meeting Dennis and Van Meter killed them without provocation. The Indians were probably intoxicated, as mostly happened when they visited Cahokia. This occurrence offered but slight impediment to the progress of the Goshen country. The Indians were at that time in friendly relations with the whites, and this act was not looked upon as an evidence of organ- ized warfare, but as a solitary incident of chance depredation. Emigrants were rapidly coming to Illinois, and many, who, a few a years previous had located in the New Design settlement, and other parts of the present county of Monroe, were moving up to Goshen, attracted by the superior fertility of the soil, and the great beauty of the country.

The droits and Seybold fiiniilies came in 1803. William Grotts and Robert Seybold had been soldiers in the Revolutionary war. Jasiper Seybold, father of Robert Seybold, was born on the Rhein in Germany, in the year 1718. He came to the United States in 1732, in a small ship that sailed from Amsterdam crowded with emigrants. A pestilence carried off many of the passengers on the voyage. Landing in the Chesapeake bay, the captain of the ship bound young Seybold to a planter for seven years to pay for bis passage. Becoming free he married Alcey Clendenuing, a Scotch girl, who had, in like manner, been bound to a tailor for her passage money across the ocean. In 1740, they settled at the foot of the Blue ridge, now in Loudon county, A'irginia, and baked their first hoe- cake on a flat stone for want of other domestic conveniences. He had twelve sons, and two daughters. Robert Seybold was the youngest of these sons. Nine of them drew pensions for their services during the Revolutionary war. A member of the family was accustomed to say that he never knew one of them to be disloyal, to be convicted of a crime, or to get rich.

In 1785, Robert Seybold came down the- Ohio river in a flat boat, and walked from Fort Massac across to Kaskaskia In 1787 he married Mrs. Jacob Gratz, whose husband a short time previous had been killed by the Indians at Piggott's fort. Her maiden name was Mary Bull, and she was born in Pennsylvania in 1775, and came to Monroe county, Illinois, in 1778. Samuel Seybold, a former old resident of Ridge prairie, was born at Piggott's fort in the year 1795. Robert Seybold was one of the pioneer settlers of the present Jarvis township, making an improvement in the prairie, at the head of Cantine creek, two miles and a half west of Troy in 1803.

East of Seybold, in the immediate vicinity of the present town of Troy, settlements were also made in 1803, by the Greggs. In April of tliat year, Jacob Gregg settled a half mile south of Troy. The next year, 1804, he planted a pear tree, which bore large crops of fruit for more than half a century afterward. Philip, Titus, John, and Hermon Gregg, sons of Jacob, made settlements in the neighborhood. John Gregg on the prairie, not far from Robert Seybold. The Greggs were from Kentucky, slow and unprogressive, and" in after years grumbled at being taxed to support the free schools, and favored the introduction of slaverj'.

On the banks of the Mississippi, opposite Cabaret or (Gabberet) Island not far above Venice, Dr. George Cadwell was an early settler. He and John Mcssinger, who made many of the early surveys in this county, had married daughters of Matthew Lyon in Vermont, and the three, with their fiiniilies, emigrated to Kentucky, coming down the Ohio river in a flat boat, in the year 1799. They settled at Eddyville, Kentucky, and Lyon, an eccentric, but popular character.

was elected a representative in Congress from Kentucky for several terms. He had previously served as a member of Congress from Vermont. Dr. Cadwell and Messinger came to Illinois in 1802. They lauded from their boat iu the American Bottom, not fiir from Fort Chartres, and remained in that vicinity for some time. Dr. Cadwell then made a permanent settlement, as stated above, on the Mississippi. He practiced the profession of medicine, and was chosen to several public oflices. He was justice of the peace. Judge of the county court, first in St. Clair county, and then in Madison, after its organization. He was the first member of the State Senate from Madison county after the organization of the State government and held that position from 1818 to 1822. He was a man of unimpeachable, private life, a respectable physician and a useful citizen. He was afterward a member of the legislature from Greene county. He died at a good old age in Morgan county. George Richardson accompanied Dr. Cadwell, settled near him, and removed with him from this county to Morgan.

John Mcssinger who came with Dr. Cadwell to Illinois, lived a short time within the present limits of Madison county, though he took up his permanent residence in St. Clair. He lived in Ridge prairie, between the present towns of Troy and Collinsville. He was born in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, 1771, and in 1783 settled in Vermont. He was a member of the legislature of Indiana territory, before Illinois had a seperate territorial government. He assisted in forming the first constitution of the State, and was Speaker of the House of Representatives in the first General Assembly after the State government was formed. He died in St. Clair county in 1846. He had a great genius for mathematics, and was an excellent surveyor ; nearly one-third of the boundaries of the townships in this county were surveyed by him.

In 1804, the settlements were extended farther north, and were strengthened by the arrival of many new families. A Frenchman from Cahokia, named Delorne, settled this year at the edge of the timber, east of Monk's Mound, near Cantine Creek.

The settlement in the Six Mile prairie, from 1804 to 1806, received considerable accessions in the Waddle, Griffin, Squire, Cummings, Carpenter and Gillham families.

Thomas Cummings was an energetic pioneer with a family of stalwart sons. In 1817 he moved to what is now Jersey county. Nathan Carpenter was a man of enterprise and energy, and at an early period had a horse-mill in operation. Thomas Gillham, the oldest son of Isaac Gillham, was a justice (jf the peace, and subsequently a county commissioner. Amos S((uire, who bad emigrated from Maryland to Illinois in company with Shadrach Bond, and first settled at Kaskaskia, in 1808, made his home on the farm on which his son, Samuel Scjuire, still lives. He was the first justice of the peace in township three, range nine. He was first appointed to this position by Gov. Ninian Edwards, and filled it for twenty consecutive years. He was captain in the ranging service during the war of 1812-14. Among other early residents of this part of the county were Henry Hayes, John Clark, Henry Stallings, and John G. Lofton.

The Arthur family carae to tliis part of the county in 1811. From 1804 to 1806 families by the name of Chilton, Brazell, Lorton, Moore, Downing, Lemen, Copelaud, Lacy, Vanhooser. Rattan, Hewitt, Hill, Stubblefield and Jones, attached themselves to the eastern and northern parts of the Goshen settlement.

In 1S05, John T. Lusk, then a young man of twenty-one, cast his fortunes with the Goshen country. He was born on Broad river, in the Union district of South Carolina, in the year 1784. In 1798, his father, James Lusk, emigrated to Kentucky, and established a ferry on the Ohio, where is now the town of Golconda. This was widely known as Lusk's ferry, and John T. Lusk, as he was growing to be a young man, was engaged for some time in its operation. Soon after his arrival, Mr. Lusk pre-empted land two miles and a half southwest of Edwardsville, and in 1809 married Lucretia, daughter of Charles Gillham,who in the year 1803, had settled two miles south of Edwardsville. After living at this place some years, Charles Gillhamsold his improvements to John and Beniah Robinson and moved to Hurricane creek in Bond county. Directly after his marriage, John T. Lusk moved to a tract of land, afterwards included in the Fair Grounds, near Edwardsville, and lived in a tent till he constructed a double log cabin, which stood for many years, and in which was born Alfred Lusk, said to have been the first white child born in township four, range eight. John T. Lusk was a ranger in the Indian troubles of 1812- 14, and a lieutenant in the Black Hawk war, and prominently connected with the interests of Edwardsville.

Joseph Newman, a Pennsylvanian, came to the present Fort Russ 11 township in 1804, but the first substantial improvement in this township was made by Major Isaac H. Fergurson in 1806. Major Fergurson was a Kentuckian. A year or two afterward he moved to what is now Morine township, and in the war of 1812-14 had command of Chilton's Fort. He moved to Texas in 1842, and died in Mexico during the war between that country and the United States. Martin Preuitt, in 1806, settled on the Sand Ridge prairie, about three miles east of Alton. He was born in North Carolina. In 1767, when fifteen, he went with his father to Kentucky, in company with Daniel Boone, and camped nine months on the Kentucky river, spending their time hunting, and then returned to North Carolina. He had three brothers, Abraham, William and Isaac. He was in the Revolutionary war, and at the battle of Kings Mountain. After the Revolution all the family removed to Virginia, and after being there several years, to Tennessee. Here Abraham and William Preuitt were killed by the Cherokee Indians, and in 1806 the family came to Illinois. Martin Preuitt did little else but hunt. He died without sickness or pain, in the year 1844, at the age of ninety-two. He had ten children ; the sons were named Isaac, Abraham, Jacob, William, Jones and Solomon. Solomon Preuitt, the youngest son, was born in 1790, and lived to be one of the oldest residents of Madison county. He was elected captain of a militia company in 1811, when twenty-one years of age. He was in the ranging service in 1813 and 1814. In 1818 he moved to a place a mile and a half south of the present town of Bethalto. In 1831 he was in command of a company which marched to Rock Island in the first campaign against Black Hawk. In 1832 he was elected captain of a company formed at Milton for service in the Black Hawk war, and at Beardstown, where the regiment was organized, was chosen lieutenant-colonel. After his return to Madison county he was elected major of the militia, and held that position for many years. When the Preuitt family came to Illinois in 1806, there was only one house in the forks of Wood river, in which a man named Benjamin Carter, a shoemaker, lived. This improvement was bought by George Moore, who built a log house. Solomon Munson was living on the Sand Ridge prairie, and towards Alton lived Mrs. Shields, whose son, James Shields, afterward settled on land now included in the city of Alton, and gave his name to Shields' branch.

William Jones and John Finley arrived in 1806, and' settled on the sand ridge, east of Alton. They had come to Illinois a couple of years previous, and had stopped for a time in Pope county. William Jones was a Baptist preacher. He was born in Washington county, Virginia, and emigrated thence to Kentucky, and thence to Tennessee, where he experienced religion and became connected with the ministry of the Baptist church. He was captain of a company of rangers during the war of 1812-14. He was a member of the legislature of Illinois, both while under the territorial government and after the admission of the state into the union. He died in 1844.

In the spring of the year 1807 Robert Reynolds, the father of Gov. John Reynolds, purcha-sed a farm at the foot of the bluff, three or four miles, southwest of Edwardsville. Seven years before, the family had emigrated from Tennessee and settled in Randolph county ; John Reynolds was then nineteen years of age. He says of this period of his life: I had with me my books and compass, and studied the mathematics with care and attention at intervals, when I was not at work on the farm. I was called on to do jobs of surveying, which I performed tolerably well, as all parties concluded. When my father arrived in Goshen, it was the most beautiful country that I ever saw. It had been settled only a few years, and the freshness and beauty of nature reigned over it to give it the sweetest charms. I have spent hours on the bluff, ranging my view up and down the American Bottom, as far as the eye could extend. The ledge of rocks at the present city of Alton, and the rocks near Cahokia, limited our view north and south, and all the intermediate country extended before us. The prairie and timber were distinctly marked, and the Mississippi seen in places. "

This was Gov. Reynolds' home till he began the practice of law at Cahokia in 1814, though he was absent for some time attending school in Tennessee. He relates that he attended all the house raisings and other gatherings of the people. No horse-race, or Fourth of July frolic, escaped him. He speaks of being present at the camp-meeting, the first in Illinois, held on the premises of Mr. Good, three miles south of the present Edwardsville, in the spring of 1807, and also of taking part in muster at Cahokia the same spring at which all the militia of St. Clair county (in which the territory of the present Madison county was then included) gathered. Many women and children, as well as men, attended. In those days women often rode on horseback many miles, carrying their children with them, to places of public resort. At this muster, a troop of cavalry was training, exchanging blank shots with the infantry, when a company of French, from Cahokia, either by mistake or otherwise, tired leaden shot into the cavalry company, wounding many of the men and horses. At that time a bad state of feeling existed between the French and Americans, and at the next training the regiment was divided, so that the two races mustered apart from each other. Reynolds also refers to a horse race.of which he was a witness, that took place on the Fourth of July, 1808, on the prairie in the American Bottom, a little northwest of the residence of Samuel Judy.

Rattan's prairie was given its name from the circumstance that Thomas Rattan settled here in 1804. He came to Illinois from Ohio ; some time after the war of 1812-14 he removed to the present county of Greene. Toliver Wright, a Virginian by birth, settled near the mouth of Wood river in 180C. He was a captain in the ranging service during the war of 1812-14, and while in command of a company of spies, on a march to Peoria, he was shot by an Indian. He was carried back to Wood River fort, and died in six weeks after receiving his wound. Abel Moore made his home in the Wood river settlement in 1808. He was born in North Carolina, thence removed to Kentucky, and from that state came to Illinois. He died in 1846 at the age of sixty-three. The death of his wife occurred one day previous. Two of his children were killed in the Wood river massacre. Three of the children are yet living, of whom two reside in this county, the wife of Madison Williams and Major Franklin Moore of Upper Alton. George and William Moore, brothers of Abel Moore, left Kentucky at the same time, 1808, but went to the Boone's Lick country in Missouri, from which, in 180J they came to Madison county. The Reagan family some of the members of which were the victims of Indian ferocity in the Wood river massacre, came to the Wood river settlement about the same time as the Moores. George and Thomas Davidson, natives of South Carolina, settled in the southeastern part of township five, range nine, in 1806, George Davidson estal)li.shed a tannery as early as 1810. Thomas Davidson for many years was a Justice of the Peace.

John Atkins came to Illinois in 1807 and settled near the Mississippi, four or five miles above the present town of Venice. He was born in Massachusetts, and had been a soldier in the war of the Revolution. Near the present Mitchell station Andrew Emert, a Pennsylvanian, settled in 1807.

Thomas Kirkpatriek made the pioneer improvement on the site of Edwardsville, and in the same part of the county south and south-east of the present county seat. James Kirkpatriek, Frank Kirkpatriek, William Gillham, Charles Gillham, Thomas Good, George Barn.sback, George Kinder, John Robinson, Frank Roach, James Holliday, Bryant Mooney, Josias Randle, Thomas Handle, Jesse Bell, Josias

Wright, made early settlements. William Gillham was one of the early representatives of Madison county in the legislature. On the farm of Thomas Good, whose wife was an earnest Methodist, the early camp meetings were held. The Handle, Bell, and Wright families left Georgia together, in September, 1811, and i-eached Turkey Hill, in St. Clair county, on the seventeenth of October, and shortly afterward made their homes in Madison county. Josias Raudle became the first clerk of the circuit court. Josias Wright settled the Shaefl'er place, two miles and a half southwest of Edwardsville ; George Barnsback was born at Osterode, Germany, in 1781. In 1797 he came to America, landing at Philadelphia, but soon afterward going to Kentucky, where for some years he was overseer of a plantation. From Kentucky he travelled to Charleston, South Carolina, and there took passage for Germany, in a vessel which was shipwrecked in the English Channel. He returned to Kentucky in 180.^, and in 1809 came to what is now Madi.son county. He served two years in the ranging service, during the war of 1812-14. In 1824 he went to Germany, and in 1825 came back to the United State-i. For six years he lived in St. Francois county, Missouri, and then came back to his old farm, six miles southeast of Edwardsville. He had ten children. Among his descendants are some of the leading citizens of the county. George Kinder was born in Pennsylvania. Soon after the Revolution the family moved to Kentucky, where his father, Jacob Kinder, was killed by the Indians. He moved from Kentucky to Illinois, and settled in what is now Madison county, in the fall of 1811. James Holliday came from Georgia. His sou, Robert Holliday, resided in this county many years, and then moved to Macoupin county, where he died.

South-west of Edwardsville, at the foot of the bluff, Ambrose and David Nix were early settlers, and above them lived Jacob Varner. Abraham and Joel Varner were sons of the latter. Near the Nixs was Nix's ford, on the Cahokia, a well-known place in the early history of the county,

Joseph Bartlett, and families by the name of Lockhart and Taylor settled in township four, range seven, in 1809. Bartlett was a native of Virginia, born in 1772, and removed at an early period to the vicinity of Knoxville, Tennessee, and from there canje to Illinois in 1807 He first made his home in the Wood River settlement. During the war of 1812-14 he built a block-house, which was standing in good condition as late as 1834. Mr. Bartlett was a man of much intelligence. He was the first treasurer of Madison county after its organization. His habits were domestic, and he seldom went from home. He died in December, 1863, and for f rtyfour years previous to his death, had not visited the city of St. Louis, though less than twenty-five miles distant from his residence. At the time of his last tri]) there, in 1819, the horse-ferry had just been established acro.ss the Mississippi. So little curiosity did he manifest in the march of modern improvements, that he never went to see a steamboat, or railroad, nor did he ever visit a county fair, a camp-meeting, or any like public gathering. He spent much time with his books, and his mind was well-stored with information, especially in regard to Politics. He was a Whig. He had a large and well-selected library, and was particularly well versed in the early history of Tennessee, in which state he lived before coming to Illinois. Besides acting as county treasurer he filled the office of justice of the peace, and other public positions.

Paul Beck was one of the early residents of this part of the county, and about three miles east of Edwardsville was built Beck's block-house, one of the places of refuge during the Indian troubles of the war of 18r2-14. Jubilee Posey, a native of Georgia, came to Illinois in 1811, and settled in township four, range eight. He was in the ranging service ; some of his descendants reside in the southern part of the county.

In the southeastern part of the county the first traca^ of settlement appear in 1809. Mrs. Howard, a widow with several grown sons and daughters, emigrated from Tennessee that year, and made her home on a beautiful ridge, covered Avith timber, on the edge of the Looking Glass prairie. The prairie, for a distance of many miles, was spread out before their view. Their location was about one mile northwest of the present town of Highland. The next year 1810, Abraham Huser, who had married one of the Howard daughters, began makiig an improvement nearly a mile farther north. At that time these settlements were in advance of all others, in that part of the county. Ten miles to the south, a short distance north of the present town of Lebanon, a few white men had erected their cabins; likewise to the east, on Shoal creek, some settlements had been made, and to the east were the improvements on Ridge Prairie, near the present towns of Troy and Edwardsville, but on the north not a single white man had erected hisjjioneer habitation.

On the east side of Silver creek, between 1810 and 1812, settlements were made by John Lindley, Augustus Chilton, William Chilton, Cyrus Chilton, and families by the name of Harrison and Smeltzer, with the Howards and Husers. There were eleven families in all in this part of the county to seek the protection of Chilton's Fort during the troubles with the Indians in the war of 1812-14.

Monks Of La Trappe

A different order of emigrants made their appearance in 1807 in the Monks of La Trappe who made their home on Cabokia or Monk's Mound where they remained till 1816, when they returned to France. These Monks were a branch of the order of Cistercian Monks. They first came to the United States in 1804, and lived successively atConewango, Pennsylvania, in Kentucky, at Florissant, St. Louis county, Missouri, and then settled on the mound in the American Bottom which was a gift to them of Col. Nicholas Jarrot, of Cahokia. They were severe in their penances and discipline, and lived in perpetual silence. Gov. Reynolds states : " I saw many of the order, at their monastery in the American Bottom who refused to speak, but made signs, pointing to the place to obtain information. Many whom I saw, were stout, robust men, badly clothed, but fat and hearty." To them is attributed the discovery of coal in the neighboring blufls.

The Settlements, During The War Of 1812-14

In the year 1812, at the time of the commencement of the Indian hostilities, the settlements in the present Madison county were confined to the southern and western parts of the county. The centre of population was a short distance southwest of Edwardsville, north, along the Mississippi, the settlements were bounded by the site of the present city of Alton, which, in 1809, Reynolds says, Andy Dunnagan occupied, solitary and alone. A settlement of some considerable number of families had formed in the forks of Wood river ; east of Silver creek, in the southeast part of the county, not more than a dozen families had made pioneer locations. Ridge prairie and the American Bottom contained by far the largest number of inhabitants.

Indian Troubles

With the exception of the murder of Dennis and Van Meter in 1802, the settlements were happily spared any Indian atrocities till the year 1811, when the hostile feelings of the Indians, which bad been growing stronger, year by year, as they witnessed the advance of the white settlements, culminated in the murder of a man named Price near Hunter's Spring in the lower part of the present city of Alton. Price and a companion were engaged in plowing on the 20th day of June in that year, when a party of Indians approached them, as they stood at the spring, where a small cabin had been built. As the Indians came near, the white men asked them if they came in peace. One of the Indians, a man of great size and strength, laid down his gun, and extended his hand to Price, who took it without suspecting treachery. Price was held fast by this one Indian, while the others immediately murdered him. During the struggle Price's companion mounted his horse and escaped, though in his flight he received a severe bullet wound in the thigh.

This tragedy occasioned great apprehension, and from that time, till the declaration of peace at the close of the war of 1812-14 the settlers lived in constant alarm. Preparations for defence were immediately made. In July, 1811, a company of mounted riflemen, or rangers, was organized. Block houses were built at difl^erent points. The news of the battle of Tippecanoe, fought in November of the same year, intensified the excitement, and gave the settlers to understand that their homes, at any moment, might be made the theatre of a cruel, and relentless^ savage warfare.

A stockade fort was built in section one, of township four, range nine, and around this were gathered a number of families. Amongthem were John Gillhara and his five sons ; three brothers of the name of Brown, three of the Kirkpatricks, and families by the name of Dunnagan, Sanders, Fergurson, Dodd, Revis, Beeman, Winsor, Celver, Green, and Smith. Thomas Kirkpatrick's fort at Edwardsville sheltered the inhabitants who had settled in that vicinity, and Chilton's fort, east of Silver creek, about two miles west of the present town of St. Jacobs gave jirotection to the Howards, the Gigers, the Chiltons, and others who had settled in that part of the county. There were other block houses at vari- ou? points, one on the southeast quarter of section eighteen, township five, range eight, known as Jones' block-house. James Kirkpatrick's fort was a couple of miles southwest of Edwardsville, and southeast was Frank Kirkpatrick's fort. Beck's block-house stood on section five of township four, range seven. Lofton's and Hayes' block-houses were in the American Bottom, in the present Naineoki township. The Wood river fort was in section ten, of township five, range nine, and there was another fort about one mile south of the old town of Milton.

In IS 12, active preparations were made under Ninian Edwa-ds, the territorial Governor, for the protection of the frontier. Companies of mounted rangers' were organized who scoured the Indian country. Fort Russell was built at the commencement of the year, a couple of miles north of the present town of Edwardsville, and made the headquarters of the Governor, and the base of his military operations. Reynolds states that it was also, during the war, " the resort of the talent and fashion of the country. The Governor opened his court here, and presided with the character that genius and talent always bestow on the person possessing them. The cannon of Louis XIV, of France, were taken from old Fort Chartres, and with them and other military decorations, Fort Russell blazed out with considerable pioneer splendor." The fort received its name in honor of Col. William Russell, of Kentucky, who had command of the ten companies of rangers, organized by act of Congress, to defend the western frontier. Four of these companies were allotted to the defense of Illinois, and were commanded by William B. Whiteside, James B. Moore, Jacob Short and Samuel Whitiside. The Whitesides were citizens of this county. A small company of regulars, under command of Captain Ramsey, were stationed at Fort Russell for a few months of the year 1812, the only regular troops at the fort during the war.

Andrew Moore and family, moved fiom the Goshen settlement in 1810 to a place ten or fifteen miles southwest of the present town of Mt. Vernon, and in 1812, he and his son were killed by the Indians on the middle fork of the Big Muddy, where they had camped on their way home from Jordan's fort.