1893 Dec. 12 CC - John Erkman, Carmi died Monday (Leading Locals)
Donoho, Marilynn. Funeral Home Records 1914-1926 from J.N. Johnson in Wayne County, Illinois, Mt. Vernon, IL: MK's Books, 1994
Johnston Funeral Home is located in Jefferson County, Illinois. The records were there when Mr. Johnston purchased the funeral home several years ago. The records were those acquired from J.N. Johnson when Barney Myers purchased the funeral home from him. Then in later years the business was transferred to Mr. Bill Johnston. The records were of Wayne County, Illinois.
Name/Address, Age/Ordered by, Died, Buried, Cemetery
#194 Don Wheeler, child stillbirth, 2/12/1914, 1914, [Thomason Cem., Wayne City, IL]
#413-17 H.F. Wright, 75 years, 3/19/1918, no date, Mt. Olive Cem. [Jefferson Co., IL]
#420-24 Wm. Dove/Keenes, 81 years/Family, 4/19/1918, 4/20/1819, Salem / Mateer Cem.
#50 Edith Gurley, 26 Years, no death date, 11/9/1920, Thomason Cem.
#J Marion/Newman, IL, 31 years/John Wolfe, 3/4/1922, 3/8/1922, no cemetery listed
#M Nova Maulding, by Charles Maulding, 3/13/1922, 3/15/1922, no cemetery listed
#14 W.N. Wheeler/Sims, 64 Years/by family, 3/21/1923, 3/23/1923, Thomason Cem.
Donoho, Marilynn. Funeral Home Records from Keens Funeral Home in Keenes, Wayne County, Illinois, Mt. Vernon, IL: MK's Books, 1995.
Rosetta Wollitz died Oct. 19, 1922, charged Max Wollitz, funeral Oct. 21, 1922, died near Keenes, IL, funeral Salem Church, 2 p.m., Rev. C.E. Hunt, no physician, it was a coroner case, deputry C.E. Heath of Fairfield, IL, gun shot accidently, married, General Baptist, 49 years, 11 months, 6 days, buried Salem Cemetery.
Emory A. Johnson, died Nov. 27, 1923 in Mackay, Idaho, charged Charles Johnson, Rev. Ambros Mayberry, funeral Mackay, Idaho, Jan. 7, 1924, 2 p.m., single, cause of death unknown, no physician, occupation: labor, 24 years, 23 days, buried Mt. Zion Cemetery.
John J. Gurley died Oct. 3, 1927, Anna, Illinois, charged James Gurley, Rev. Charles L. Wood, funeral at J.R. Gurley's home in Wayne City, IL, Oct. 4, 1927, 2 p.m., widowed, physician unknown, lived Anna, Illinois, no religion, 81 years, 7 months, 10 days, buried Thomason Cemetery.
Theodore Maulding, died Sept. 25, 1928 near Dahlgren, Illinois, charged family, Rev. Joe Vollivia, funeral at Mt. Zion Sept. 26, 1928, 3 p.m., married, Dr. Whited, residence Dahlgren, Illinois, appears to be 70 years, 26 days, cemetery not listed, [Mt. Zion]
Hiyles Marie Robertson died Oct. 14, 1928 near old Middleton, charged Henry Robertson, Rev. Johnson, funeral at Mt. Zion Church, Oct. 15, 1928, 3 p.m., married, cause of death: dead phetes (?), Dr. W.A. Dulaney, residence Wayne City, Illinois, Nazerene, 28 years, 29 days, buried Mt. Zion Cemetery
Draper, N.W. Old Fort Shipley, Journal of the Southern Illinois Historical Society, Vol. III, no. 8, 10/1/1946.
Up in northeast Hamilton County on a bend in the Skillet Fork, tributary of the Little Wabash river, is the site of an old fort, the story of which seems never to have found its way into print. This ancient ghost of Abolition is little more than a mile upstream from the mouth of Haw Creek. Here in its heyday was a rendezvous for members of the Knights of the Golden Circle, deserters of the Northern armies, opponents of the Draft Law of 1863, and supplemented on occasion by other War renegades who for a time found comfort and comradeship. Altogether it must have been a rather harmonious "brotherhood," the personnel of which trickled in from the nearby counties of Wayne, White, and others, with recruits now and then from Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri. All were more or less sincerely sympathetic with the principle of slavery and opposed to the successful completion of the War in favor of the North.
Allegedly, the fort was named for one of the prime moversju in the enterprise, a man named Shipley, who after the war, was engaged in business in the village of Dahlgren in northwest Hamilton County where he is said to have been recognized as one of the worthy citizens of that community.
Fort Shipley, of course, was a mere unit of many similarly operated in utmost secrecy up and down the lower Ohio Valley, and which lent conspicuous resistance to the War effort. One of their motives was to liberate Confederate prisoners.
Probably never more than 100 men, and frequently much fewer, held forth at Fort Shipley. But their militant secrecy of purpose and action must have required considerable skill in organization, even though they were hidden in a forest almost unbroken and with a lazy, serpent-like stream creeping about them. They felled trees and cut them into logs which they somehow moved within the bend where they fashioned them into a fort, and to complete their entrenchments excavated a rifle pit fronting outward from the fort and facing north.
Food and other necessaries were provided by local citizens with similar leanings, some of whose names though known, may here best be forgotten. Other sources of provision were by small watercraft which in those days occasionally plied the Little Wabash and the Skillet Fork. Some say the fort was equipped with a small cannon, which statement seems rather unlikely. The men, most of them at least, had guns and ammunition. A large sycamore near the fort served as a repository for secret messages of whatever kind. The old tree still was standing in the early nineties. A Wayne County Sons of Veterans organization signalized one of their meetings in 1887 by holding it at the old fortsite where their first First Lieutenant made his maiden effort in public speaking. What an inspiration he must have had!
Like other similar strongholds in the border areas where Southern sympathizers had become rampant, that at old Fort Shipley became so sufficiently menacing to the United States Government than an order was issued through the Adjutant General's office from Springfield in November, 1864, directing that the fort be seized and destroyed and its occupants taken into custody. Accordingly instructions came to Captain John R. Moss then Provost Marshal for the district of South-eastern Illinois with headquarters at Olney. Capt. Moss, leading his men, had fought valiantly in the Fort Donelson campaign at the head of Company C of the 60th Illinois Infantry. Incapacitated by severe illness, he was returned to the government hospital at Cairo, where after recovery, he was appointed to the above position. Accordingly, he proceeded to muster his force for the attack on Fort Shipley. Himself a substantial farmer in Jefferson County, near Mt. Vernon, he named another as commanding officer of the expedition - Captain Calvin Shell, of southwestern Wayne County, a gentleman of soldierly bearing, a veteran of the Mexican War, an officer of distinction in the present conflict. Although the route taken has not been learned, it is known that a light snow lay on the ground on the night of attack.
To the champing of bridle bit and to the rattle of saber and carbine, this small company of 30 patriots cantered along the narrow wagon roads and off into the dim trails of enemy territory in the Haw Creek and Skillet Fork bottoms. As they neared the fort in the dead of night, Captain Shell ordered that a signal shot be fired when ready to make the charge. Presently a shot rang out that echoed down the river and out through the forest, but there was no response at the fort, no light, no life. Not a sentinel, not a man could be found anywhere. Through premonition, or otherwise, the denizens had fled. Little was left of provision or equipment and both in hurried confusion. The fort and all its belongings were destroyed so thoroughly that they no longer shamed the State or menaced the Government. Captain Moss regarded the capture and destruction of Fort Shipley as his best piece of work while Provost Marshal. And to him the most gratifying fact was that it required no bloodshed. In a section of Illinois otherwise peaceful, this exploit was perhaps the most important military event in the Southeastern District.
Long after peace came, the site of Old Fort Shipley was known as "Rebels Bend." Here was a rebellious retreat for a handful of malcontents who sought to injure their country when the Nation was most bitterly nursing its wounds. But as the seasons pass, she tends to forget and to forgive a multitude of offenses.
[From Stormont, Gil. History of Gibson County, Indiana, Indianapolis, IN: B.F. Bowen, 1915:
Capt. C.C. Hopkins engaged in agriculture during his early life and in 1856 was elected a member of the Illinois Legislature on the Democratic supported Abraham Lincoln in the significant campaign of that year. At the opening of hostilities in 1860 between the North and the South he was commissioned a lieutenant, later being promoted to the captaincy of his company which was a part of the Fortieth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. His command took part in a number of important engagements and at the battle of Shiloh he received a wound in the neck. The records of the war department at Washington make specific mention of his bravery as a soldier. After being honorably discharged from the service he retired to his farm and was appointed a deputy provost marshal, a position which, owing to the peculiar conditions existing at that time, caused him to make many bitter enemies among the element opposed to law and order. It is related that on one occasion he, in company with a few soldiers belonging to Captain Parker's company, went down to Wayne county, Illinois, in the bottom of a little river called "The Skillet Fork," where some Southern sympathizers had built a fort named Fort Shipley. Captain Hopkins sent on of his soldiers to demand their surrender and they agreed to do so. They were then taken prisoners, but owing to the feeling aroused over his having broken up the fort, Captain Hopkins was shot to death. This occurred in the year in 1865. After fourteen years' search the subject and his brother Wesley, located the man who fired the shot, finding him in Missouri. Taking along a deputy sheriff, they surprised him in bed and captured him without resistance, bringing him through Middleton, Illinois, where neighbors helped guard him all night, he being placed in the county jail the next day, and subsequently tried and sentenced to the penitentiary for a period of fourteen to twenty-one years.]
Edgar, Jim. Illinois Public Domain Land Sales, Springfield, IL: Secretary of State, 1985
This database is now available online.
By the President of the United States
In pursuance of law, I, Martin Van Buren, President of the United States of America, do hereby declare and make known, that a public sale will be held at Danville, in the State of Illinois, on Monday, the thirteenth day of May next, for the disposal of the public lands within the limits of the undermentioned townships, to wit:
North of the base line and east of the third principal meridian.
Townships twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine and thirty, of range five.
Townships twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine and thirty, of range six.
Lands appropriated, by law, for the use of schools, also lands reserved for military or other purposes, will be excluded from sale.
The sale will be kept open for two weeks, (unless the lands are sooner disposed of,) and no longer; and no private entries of land, in the townships so offered will be admitted until after the expiration of the two weeks.
Given under my hand, at the City of Washington, this thirtieth day of November, A.D. 1838
M. Van Buren
By the President:
James Whitcomb, Commissioner of the General Land Office.
Notice to Pre-Emption Claimants.
Every person claiming the right of pre-emption to any of the lands designated in the above proclamation, is required to prove the same to the satisfaction of the Register and Receiver of the land office, and make payment therefor as soon as practicable after seeing this notice, in due time prior to the day appointed for the commencement of the public sale; and all claims not duly made known and paid for prior to the date aforesaid, are declared by law to be forfeited.
James Whitcomb, Commissioner of the General Land Office
Hicken, Victor. Illinois Camps, Posts & Prisons, Illinois Civil War Sketches, No. 9, Springfield, IL: Illinois State Historical Library, 1963
When President Abraham Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand volunteers in April, 1861, Illinois responded with a vigor which surprised even its most patriotic citizens. . . . So great was the immediate flood of volunteers that two problems arose. First, Secretary of War Simon Cameron, had authorized the state to raise only six regiments; there were far too many volunteers for the designated number of units. Secondly, there were no actual facilities available for handling such large contingents of men. The first difficulty was solved when Governor Richard Yates persuaded Cameron to accept more regiments. The second problem was nearly unsolvable in view of the necessary haste in raising units, the large number of volunteers, and the virtual absence of established military camps within the state.
Inevitably then, as companies and regiments gathered to wait mustering-in by the Secretary of War, they did so in whatever facilities were available in towns and cities throughout Illinois. In most cases the men were brought together in county seats, where there were fairgrounds or larger buildings which allowed for units to organize quickly. The 33rd Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment, for example, billeted its soldiers in the buildings on the town square in Bloomington; it drilled in a nearby city park. In the case of the 61st Illinois, a southwestern Illinois regiment, the men were housed in the fairgrounds buildings at Carrollton ordinarily used for show animals or produce. . . .
Needless to say, training in these primitive military camps was rudimentary. For most of the young volunteers, the atmosphere was too much like playing war. Camps were deluged with anxious and loving relatives who wished to make military life as comfortable as possible for their loved ones. One volunteer recalled after the war that his stay in "Camp Mather," Peoria, was a nightmare of visiting relatives. The men were showered with cakes, Bibles, candies, and regimental flags from earnest and patriotic citizens. But the same soldier added later with some regret, that the men lacked the very things they really needed: company and regimental drills were performed with nothing more than hickory sticks. . . .
. . . in December, 1861, the War Department commenced to break up nearly all smaller camps by ordering regiments directly to major military establishments at Springfield or Chicago. These camps included Camp Yates, a temporary post, and Camp Butler at Springfield, and Camp Douglas at Chicago. Yet, almost to the end of the war, camps were located elsewhere in the state: at Cairo, and, as late as 1864, at Quincy.
The major mustering-in sites were Camp Butler and Camp Douglas. The former named for William Butler, then the state treasurer of Illinois, was located about six miles from Springfield on a body of water then known as Clear Lake. Surrounded by a pleasant wooded area, this level, open farm land was more than adequate for drilling troops. In fact, camp officers soon discovered that the parade grounds at Camp Butler were not only large enough to allow for division exercises, but for brigade formations as well.
The first troops to arrive at Camp Butler early in August, 1861, were sections of an infantry company from Mason City, a troop of cavalry, and a battery transferred from Camp Yates. In the days which followed, there was a veritable stream of troops into the camp, including regiments from McDonough, Adams, Logan and Saline counties. By August 21, more than five thousand men were training at Camp Butler.
As more and more demands were placed upon the camp, it grew in size. In the early days, regiments leaving Camp Butler were marched to a placed called "Jimtown" (now Riverton), located near the tracks of the Great Western (Wabash) Railroad, to board trains. Since there was often a delay in transporting troops, the army constructed a large number of barracks near the Great Western tracks in late 1861. In time, many of the routine functions formerly carried out at Camp Butler were moved to this newer location.
Camp Butler fitted the accepted pattern of army camps at the beginning of the war. Each regiment was allotted a specific location within the camp and had its own commissariat. The barracks contained three-tier bunks, a stove, tables and benches, and a cookhouse at one end of the building.
As in the earlier camps, the facilities were poorly fitted for training troops. Bayonet practice, swordplay, rifle practice and marching formations were the usual daily routine. . . .
An important adjunct to the federal war effort were the military installations located in and about Cairo, Illinois, where troops were bivouacked as they moved to and from the front. Encampments near Cairo were at such places as Villa Ridge, Camp McClernand, and Camp (or Fort) Defiance. Also in Cairo were substantial military hospitals and rehabilitation centers. The latter, operated by the sanitary commission were often great aids to the men far from home, to those needing help with personal difficulties. Also important were the shipbuilding and ship repair yards located at Mound City, not far from Cairo. These were necessary, if not fundamental, to the successful Union war effort.
As the war progressed in scope and ferocity, it became necessary for federal authorities to establish prisons for captured enemy soldiers in selected areas of the North. Four prisons were located in Illinois: in already established military camps at Camp Butler and Camp Douglas; a penitentiary, readily convertible to such usage, at Alton; and a prison added later at Rock Island, mainly because of its geographical advantages.
Illinois Secretary of State. Counties of Illinois: Their Origin & Evolution, Springfield, IL, nd.
Interior Geological Survey. Boyleston, Ill. SW/4 Fairfield 15' Quadrangle Map, Washington, DC, 1971.
Map showing the Wayne / Hamilton county line, Haw Creek, Skillet Fork River and location of interstate 64 under construction.
Justice, Fred. Directory of the Cemeteries of Jefferson County Illinois, Mattoon, IL: Chez Gary, nd
Burials alphabetical by surname with township designation.
- Bald Hill - BH
- Blissville - BL
- Casner
- Dodds
- Elk Prairie - EP
- Farmington
- Field - FI
- Grand Prairie - GP
- McClellan
- Moore's Prairie - MP
- Mount Vernon - MV
- Pendleton - PE
- Rome - RO
- Shiloh - SH
- Spring Garden - SG
- Webber - WE
Butler -
- Arthur - WE - uncle, Mt. Olive Cem. 1894-1895
- Bessie A. - MP 1882-1883 Sugar Camp Cem.
- Candes - WE - aunt, Mt. Olive Cem. 1850-1880
- Claud L. - WE 1909-1964, East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Cyrus L. - WE 1865-1935, East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Daughter of C.W. & N. no dates Sugar Camp Cem.
- Edward - WE - cousin, Mt. Olive Cem., 1869-1887
- Festus W. - MV - Festus Walton - Oakwood Cem., Lot 2055
- Florence D. - WE - grandmother, Mt. Olive Cem. 1862-1938
- F.W. - PE - Laird Cem. 1817-
- Geo. F. - WE - grandfather, Mt. Olive Cem. 1861-1946
- Infant, 1876 Sugar Camp Cem.
- Jewell L. - WE 1915-19-- East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Lettie M. - MP 1885-1888 Suga Camp Cem.
- Longretta - [Loucetta] - PE - Laird Cem. 1863-1945
- Lucy - MV - Oakwood Cem. Lot 2055
- Maynard - WE - uncle, Mt. Olive Cem. 1891-1913
- Maud K. - MV - Oakwood Cem. Lot 701
- Mildred L. - WE 1869-1925, East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Randall G. - SG - WWII veteran
- Robert B. - MV - Oakwood Cem. Lot 701
- Rosetta K. - SG
- Wm. L. - SG
- W.W. - PE - Laird Cem. 1859-1944
Cornwell
- Elton M. 1893-1966 East Hickory Hill Cem. World War I veteran
- Eva H. 1902-19-- East Hickory Hill Cem.
Dulaney
- John P. 1891-1957 WWI veteran, East Hickory Hill Cem.
- W.B. 1842-1900 East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Martha A. 1852- East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Nancy 1835-1895 East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Wm. L. 1873-1965 East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Hinson 1891-1895 East Hickory Hill Cem.
Dulany
- Isaac W. 1859-1914 East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Tishie (?) 1857-1894 East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Polly 1893 East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Inf. 1894 East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Wm. Inf. 1894 East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Martha 1886-1897 East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Jewell F. 1897-1903 East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Inf. 1894 East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Dr. W.A. 1873-1940 East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Hanna B. 1872-1904 East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Jessie 1851-1916 East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Sarah 1856-1901 East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Sarah S. 1838-18889 Black Oak Ridge Cem.
- Dolpha 1883-1950 East Hickory Hill Cem
- Cora B. 1884-1963 East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Jane 1840-1909 wife of Dr. I.H. Black Oak Ridge Cem.
Gentle
- Calvin F. - SH - uncle
- Frances - WE - grandmother, Mt. Olive Cem. 1819-1905
- Howard - WE - uncle, Mt. Olive Cem. 1846-1933
- Isabel - WE - aunt, Mt. Olive Cem. 1855-1950
- John - WE - grandfather, Mt. Olive Cem. age 58, 1874
- Louisa J. - WE, Mt. Olive Cem.
- Nellie - WE - aunt, Mt. Olive Cem. 1894-19--
- Oscar - WE - uncle, Mt. Olive Cem. 1889-1954
Maulding
- Alma - RO
- Benj. F. - MP
- Clyde C. - PE - 1885-1957 Laird Cem.
- Cyrus W. Reverend - RO
- Eliza J. - PE
- Elizabeth - SH
- Harry - RO
- James - PE
- Louisa - RO
- Myrtle R. - PE 1894-19--, Laird Cem.
- Otto W. - SH
- Zadoc Casey - SH - Civil War veteran
Osborn
- Chas. E. - 1836, veteran, East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Rev. B.J. 1854-1928 East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Sarah E. 1856-1915 East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Chas. R. 1895-19-- WWI veteran, East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Carrie E. 1897-19-- East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Leonard E., inf. 1926 East Hickory Hill Cem.
- James L. age 50, 1879 Black Oak Ridge Cem. 1829-1879 Civil War veteran
- Juliana age 25, 1858 Black Oak Ridge Cem.
- James H. 1854-1937 Black Oak Ridge Cem.
- Mary E. 1860-1930 Black Oak Ridge Cem.
Parkhill
- John J. - WE - cousin
- Reuverta - WE - cousin
Parrish
- Lorena M. - SH
- Zachariah - BL
Richardson
- Hasten 1853-1923 Mt. Olive Cem.
- Amanda 1854-1935 Mt. Olive Cem. cousin
- Lillie 1876-1880 Mt. Olive Cem.
- Dau. of E.H. & M.E. Mt. Olive Cem.
- Robert age 74, 1898, Mt. Olive Cem.
- Callie 1874-1919 Mt. Olive Cem.
- Addie 1874-1918 Mt. Olive Cem.
- Conean (?) 1906-1918 Mt. Olive Cem.
Robertson
- Alvey - EP
- Claude E. - WE 1930-1934 Oak Dale Cem.
- Dowell - WE 1906-1959, East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Effie - MV
- Esther - PE
- Everett - PE
- Flora B. - WE - age 75, 1967, East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Flossie - WE - 1910-1964, East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Franklin J. - MV
- Georgia A. - RO
- Glenn - PE
- Glenn - PE
- Grace - PE
- Harold - PE - 1915-1916 Laird Cem.
- Hallie L. - PE - 1909-1912 Laird Cem. child of C.A. & J.C.
- Harry D. - RO
- Henry M. - SG
- Ida M. - PE
- James - PE
- James W. - WE 1885-1962 Oak Dale Cem.
- John D. - WE 1850-1929, Oak Dale Cem.
- Leslie S. - WE, WWII veteran, 1915-1961, East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Lewis - MV
- Lula D. - SG
- Maranda R. - WE
- Monroe - PE
- Sarah - RO
- Will - PE
- Wm. - PE
- Wm. - RO
- Wm. F. - WE - 1912-1965, East Hickory Hill Cem.
- W.W. - PE
Williamson
- Alma - MV
- Andrew J. - MV - Civil War veteran
- Anne - MV
- Bartheney A. - WE - 1859-1885 Mt. Olive Cem.
- C. - MV
- Carel - FA
- Cecil - MV
- Chas. R. - WE 1864-1912 Mt. Olive Cem.
- Clarence E. - MV
- Claude - WE 1904-1907 Mt. Olive Cem.
- Clyde A. - SH
- Collins - WE - 1890-1892 Mt. Olive Cem.
- Dau. of J. & H. Mt. Olive Cem.
- Dorothy R. - MV
- Ellen - WE - 1911-1912 Mt. Olive Cem.
- Elsie - SH
- Elwood N. - SH
- Ethel B. - WE - 1892-1918 Mt. Olive Cem.
- Eva M. - PE
- Flora E. - PE inf. no dates, Laird Cem.
- Geo. - PE
- Grace - SH
- Harden A. - WE - 1891-1918 Mt. Olive Cem.
- Harvey - MV
- Henry - FI
- James A. - PE
- James H. - MV
- James W. - PE - Civil War veteran
- Jarvie - WE inf. 1885 Mt. Olive Cem.
- Jarvis - WE - 1821-1887 Mt. Olive Cem.
- J. Calvin - SH
- Joel - WE - 1854-1931, East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Julia - WE - 1865-1914 Mt. Olive Cem.
- Julia S. 1864-1896 Laird Cem.
- Lauren - SH - WWI veteran
- Lee R. - PE - infant, no dates, Laird Cem.
- Lenora - MV
- Lida E. SH
- Lillie D. - MV
- Lucy H. - SH
- Mable - PE
- Maggie - PE
- Margaret - PE age 67, 1889, Laird Cem.
- Marion D. - MV
- Mary A. - WE - 1847-1876 Mt. Olive Cem.
- Mary A. - PE 1865(?) -? Laird Cem.
- Mary E. infant, no dates, Laird Cem.
- Mary W. - WE - 1872-1874 Mt. Olive Cem.
- Melvina/Malvina - WE 1854-1943 East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Mina E. - SH
- Mollie - WE - 1886-1967 Mt. Olive Cem.
- Nora - PE infant, 1885, dau. of J.R. & M.C. Laird Cem.
- Oliver P. - WE - 1876- Mt. Olive Cem.
- Oscar - WE - 1877-1951, East Hickory Hill Cem.
- Patrick N. - PE 1829-1903, Laird Cem.
- Richard G. - PE
- Ross - PE
- Ruth J. - SH
- Sallie A. - RO
- Samuel - PE 1882-1956 Laird Cem.
- Sarah A. - PE 1829-1908 Laird Cem.
- Thomas -WE - 1888-19-- Mt. Olive Cem.
- Thomas - PE
- Thomas B. - MV
- Thomas K. - MV
- Ulysses S. - MV
- V. - MV
- Venia - MV
- Wm. H. - PE - Civil War veteran - 1842-1917 Laird Cem.
- Wm. P. - MV
Wolf
- George W. 1833-1895 Civil War veteran, Laird Cem.
- Caroline W. 1843-1898 Laird Cem.
Wright
- James B. Civil War Veteran, Mt. Olive Cem.
- Sarah 1806-1883, Mt. Olive Cem.
- Frederick S. Civil War Veteran, Mt. Olive Cem.
- Henry F. Civil War veteran, Mt. Olive Cem.
- Marilla A. 1849-1926 Mt. Olive Cem.
- East Hickory Hill, section 21 - Dulaney, 34 veterans, 647 marked graves
- Clark, section 6 - 0 veterans, 17 marked graves
- Mt. Olive, section 36 - Butler, Gentle, Parkhill, 11 veterans, 180 marked graves
- Newton Farm, section 19 - 0 veterans, 6 marked graves
- Blackoak Ridge section 28 - 22 veterans, 269 marked graves
- Brown Farm section 28 - 0 veterans, 3 marked graves
- Oak Dale section 3 - 7 veterans, 199 marked graves
- Feltz Farm section 32
- Harlow section 29
- Opdyke, section 16
- New Hope section 34
- Flint section 22
- Shelton section 9
- Laird section 13
- Smith Farm section 19
Marlin, Aleen. Lawrence County, Illinois Marriage Records 1850-1865, Lawrence County Genealogical Society, nd.
1851 - 9/29 David K. Fyffe - Margaret Eaton, by William S. Hennessy, V.D. Ch.
1852 - 4/5 John W. Fyffe - Lucy Ann Lathrop, by S.D. Monroe, M.G.
1853 - 8/23 Thomas Powell - Mrs. Henriett Crest, by James Gibson
1857 - 12/31/1856 Samuel Tomlinson - Margaret Ann Wolf, by R. Trimble, VDM on 1/1/1857
1860 - 5/5 C.B. Carter - Mary C. Lathrop, by Issac Potts, JP
1860 - 8/23 Edmond Fyffe - Nancy Ann Adams, by Wm. Clark, J.P.
1861 - 9/13 Joseph Bryans - C.D. Lathrop [Clarinda], by Isaac Potts, J.P.
1863 - 3/20 James H. Musgrove - Harriett A. Fyfe, by Isaac Potts, J.P.
1863 - 4/7 William H. Fyffe - Louisa J. Ridgely by Isaac Potts, J.P.
Miller, Ada. Marriage Licenses, Lawrence County, Illinois, 1821-1849, Dallas, TX: Ada Miller, 1961
Vol. C-D
1842 - July 22, Wilson Laws - Samantha A. Lathrop, p. 41
1844 - Aug. 31, Henry Lathrop - Rachel Laws, p. 110
1846 - Feb. 16, William Teawalt - Sarah A. Shaw, p. 184
1847 - Aug. 5, Jacob Tewalt - Mariah Winkler p. 194
1847 - Dec. 15, Israel A. Powell - Adeline Bodollet p. 202
1849 - Feb. 20, Erastus Lathrop - Elizabeth J. Spencer, p. 231
1851 Joseph Teawalt, Justice of the Peace
1859 - 1/24 John B. Saye, Min.; J.A. Powell - Parmelia Bailey
Quaife, Milo, ed. Growing Up with Southern Illinois 1820-1861, Herrin, IL: Crossfire Press, 1992.
Contains an account of travel from Vermont to Illinois in 1820 that would be similar to what the Lathrops did in about 1817.
Simon, John. Colonel Grant of the Illinois Volunteers, Illinois Civil War Sketches, No. 6, Springfield, IL: Illinois State Historical Library, 1963
After news of the firing on Fort Sumter reached Galena, Illinois, in April 1861, townspeople began to take a new look at the former officer who stood behind the counter of the Jesse R. Grant leather store. Ulysses S. Grant held a clerkship in the store owned by his father, in which Grant, along with his younger brothers Simpson and Orvil, sold finished leather products and bought hides for tanning elsewhere. He was paid the modest sum of $600 yearly, with an agreement with his father for an eventual partnership. The Grants lived modestly in a rented house atop a bluff, but there was a servant to help Julia, and the four children were never aware of financial problems.
Grant had come to Galena about a year earlier after six years in the St. Louis area where ill health and poor farm prices had ruined his Hardscrabble farm venture, and a series of city jobs had not worked out. Now Galenians looked beyond that to ex-Captain Grant's fifteen years in the army, his West Point education, and his service in the Mexican War. Men with professional military experience were rare, and Captain Grant could give important service, if willing to fight.
The war clarified Grant's uncertain politics. Influenced by an antislavery father and a militantly proslavery father-in-law, he had voted in the 1856 president election for the Democrat James Buchanan largely because of personal objections to the Republican candidate, John C. Fremont. Although he had not lived in Illinois long enough to be a qualified voter in the presidential election of 1860, his neighbors believed him to be a Democrat. Any doubts about Grant's determination to fight would have faded had Galenians seen Grant's letter to his father-in-law, "I know it is hard for men to apparently work with the Republican Party," he wrote, "but now all party distinctions should be lost sight of and every true patriot be for maintaining the integrity of the glorious old Stars and Stripes, the Constitution and the Union . . . I tell you there is no mistaking the feelings of the people . . . In all this I can but see the doom of slavery." In a letter to his own father, a staunchly antislavery resident of Kentucky, Grant said: "My advice would be to leave where you are if you are not safe with the views you entertain." He repeated his patriotic sentiments: "Whatever may have been my political opinions before I have but one sentiment now. That is we have a Government, and laws and a flag and they must all be sustained. There are but two parties now, Traitors & Patriots and I want hereafter to be ranked with the latter."
After the first war rally in Galena, Grant declared his intention to join the army. He was taken under the wing of the powerful local Republican congressman, Elihu B. Washburne, who arranged for Grant to preside over the rally held in response to President Abraham Lincoln's call for troops and watched Grant drill the Jo Daviess Guards on the front lawn of his mansion. Grant declined to stand for captain of the guards, but pledged continued aid to the company while giving assurances that he would volunteer if war came. While drilling, clothing and equipping the Galena volunteers, Grant became better known to the local Republican leaders, who gave him letters of introduction to Governor Richard Yates.
When Grant arrived in Springfield with recommendations from important Republican leaders of Jo Daviess County, he encountered competition for command from a host of soldiers and politicians with similar backing. Ill-will between Grant's patron, Washburne and Governor Yates made his position more difficult. Grant's West Point education and Regular Army service gave him the viewpoint of a military professional. He knew that there were certain proper procedures for raising, training and leading an army. . . .
Grant marched the Jo Daviess Guards through Springfield to Camp Yates on the edge of town. There they were mustered in by Captain John Pope, an old acquaintance of Grant's, and the son of one of the most influential men in Illinois. Expecting to be a general himself, Pope offered to help Grant gain a commission. "I declined," Grant said later, "to receive endorsement for permission to fight for my country." Grant's position was commendable, but he soon had reason to doubt its practicality. In a room in Springfield which he shared with Augustus Chetlain, captain of the Jo Daviess Guards, Grant waited for a call that was slow in coming: "I find that all those places are wanted by politicians who are up to log-rolling."
When Congressman Washburne himself had taken Grant to see Yates, the governor did not find Grant impressive and said he had nothing available. Just what happened next cannot be discovered because of conflicting accounts. . . . Yates finally called on the state's adjutant general, Colonel T.S. Mather, and asked if he had a job for Grant. Mather said that he had nothing except a two-dollar-a-day clerkship that involved copying orders and drawing red lines on blank sheets of paper, nothing fit for a West Pointer. Grant said he would take it anyway, and Yates made him a member of his staff.
Grant was discouraged as he performed his picayune duties, but increasingly the governor's associates were learning that Grant gave sound advice on military procedure. He was actually filling the role of aide to the governor. When many more men volunteered after Sumter than Lincoln had called for, Illinois organized ten additional regiments of one-month volunteers to stand by in case of need. These were the troops of uncertain status about which Yates needed Grant's advice. Yates thought of Grant when he needed a mustering officer and commander to replace Captain Pope at Camp Yates. As mustering officer, Grant was called Colonel, though he wore civilian clothes; perhaps the most favorable aspect was the raise to $4.20 per day and the chance to deal with soldiers rather than papers.
Grant sent subordinates to muster in some of the new regiments, but went himself to Belleville in southern Illinois. He did this in order to visit St. Louis, where Nathaniel Lyon and Frank Blair were in the midst of an exciting struggle to save the city from secession sympathizers. Grant thought he might find a command in St. Louis through old friends, but he was disappointed.
Back in Illinois, he mustered in the Seventh District Regiment at Mattoon. There, Colonel Simon S. Goode of Decatur, wearing three revolvers and a bowie knife, boasted of his exploits in Nicaragua and had a handy store of quotations from Napoleon, but his men discovered that he had little deeper knowledge of army procedure or warfare. Quiet Colonel Grant was a refreshing change, and the troops named their camp for him.
By May 22, the mustering was complete. Grant returned to Galena, where he wrote to Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas in Washington: "I would say that in view of my present age, and length of service, I feel myself competent to command a Regiment if the President in his judgement should see fit to entrust one to me." Back in Springfield, waiting for the reply which would never come, Grant had nothing to do. He thought of General George B. McClellan, whom he had known in Mexico and at Fort Vancouver, Washington, and who now commanded the Ohio Volunteers. Ostensibly visiting his father in Covington, Kentucky, Grant visited McClellan's busy office in Cincinatti, Ohio, looking for a staff appointment. He left after spending the better part of two days in McClellan's headquarters without seeing the general. Visiting old friends in his boyhood home of Georgetown, Ohio, Grant spoke of the possibility of supplying bread to the Ohio Volunteers. But this was to be a last resort, and on his way back to Springfield he stopped at Terre Haute, Indiana, to see an old friend, Joseph Reynolds, now a brigadier general of Indiana Volunteers, who greeted him warmly but had no commission for him. Grant had steadfastly refused endorsements and help from powerful politicians; he was available if needed for command. Grant's thoughts as he returned to Springfield were painful; four states and the federal government had declined his services.
However, in the interim, a telegram had arrived addressed to Grant at Covington. His father forwarded it to Indiana too late. It was not until Grant reached Springfield that he learned that Governor Yates had finally offered him a commission. The officers of the Seventh District Regiment had told Yates of chaos in the ranks; the thirty-day volunteers would not re-enlist under the preposterous Colonel Goode. The men had rioted because of their food, burned the guardhouse, and caroused through town. "There wasn't a chicken within four miles of us," boasted a sergeant. Yates ordered the regiment to Springfield and provided as a new commander the former mustering officer. Although Grant was now offered a commission by Ohio as well, he chose Illinois. . . .
Grant had no experience with volunteer troops; still his men would have to meet regular requirements of training before they met the enemy. Bringing them to standard discipline would take time and patience. Grant's first formal order to his men announced that he would "require" the support of the officers, and added that he had "hopes" for the support of the enlisted men. Indeed, "hopes" were as far as Grant could stretch his expectation. The slouchy new colonel, unimpressively dressed in civilian clothes, arrived by horsecar, and struck the farm boys as a natural target for their high spirits; one boy crept behind him and knocked off his hat. However, they soon learned that Grant meant business. He told them that official power would be fairly administered, but some who ignored it were strung up by their thumbs.
The colonel showed that he had moral strength. One private, nicknamed Mexico was sent by Grant to the guardhouse as drunk and disorderly. He threatened Grant, saying that for every spare minute there he would have an ounce or Grant's blood. Grant calmly ordered him gagged. Later, Colonel Grant, by himself, released Mexico, without difficulty. Mexico was later caught concealing liquor and was discharged before the regiment left the state. Nontheless, he had rendered good service to his regiment. Now the boys no longer wanted to test Grant, but this did not solve all discipline problems. Although they wanted to be good soldiers, the boys did not see why they should not sneak out of camp at night in search of liquor and adventure. Indeed, Grant noted, "with regret," that one night some of the men on guard had crept away and as a result had to be put in confinement. Grant taught his men so well that in time the camp guards were abolished.
Only eleven days after Grant took command his men had a big decision to make. Their one-month enlistments would soon be up. The 1,250 volunteers originally enrolled in the Seventh District Regiment had already dwindled to half that number; the rest would now go home unless they signed on for three years - something none had originally anticipated. This time they would be expected to fight. . . .
The Seventh District Regiment became the 21st Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment. The regiment was ordered to Quincy, Illinois, preparatory to moving into Missouri, where there was real war. Grant surprised Yates by saying that his regiment would march the hundred miles to Quincy. Most commanders imposed further on the state's already overburdened railroads. Grant's decision, however, was based on the need for training; marching through their home state, the troops would acquire familiarity with life in the field.
The first afternoon's march of some eight miles brought the regiment to camp at Riddle Hill, where Grant wrote his first field orders on a freakishly horizontal low walnut branch. Then the next day the regiment came upon a Fourth of July celebration at Island Grove, the home of a wealthy Republican farmer, Captain James N. Brown. Invited to bring his men for dinner, Grant declined because he knew that there would not be enough food for all. Men who had not a good meal for over a month were not happy. But all in all, the march did much good. True, Colonel Grant did have to rebuke some officers who left the ranks in Jacksonville, and on another occasion, an inspection of canteens revealed many filled with something stronger than water; but the march moved the regiment considerably closer to the colonel's concept of discipline.
When Grant reached Naples, on the Illinois River, orders were changed; he would now wait for a steamboat to proceed to St. Louis. When the steamboat stuck on a sandbar above Naples, there was another change, and the regiment eventually reached Quincy by rail after all. There Grant sent home his oldest son, Frederick, aged eleven, who had been with his father on the march. Grant was surprised and amused, after the boy had gone, to learn that Mrs. Grant had no objection to her son's going with his father to war; after all, she said, Alexander the Great was no older when he accompanied Philip of Macedon.
Ordered to relieve an Illinois regiment reported surrounded west of Palmyra, Missouri, Grant felt nothing like Philip of Macedon; his army experience had never included the responsibility of independent command. Before he could cross the Mississippi River, however, the men of the supposedly besieged regiment began to straggle into Quincy. As Grant relaxed, he began to realize that the doubts he had of his own ability might be justified, but that the enemy was no better prepared. Speed, daring, and attention to details might turn the tide in this war; at least Colonel Grant would try.
Snider, Clyde & Irving Edwards. County Government in Illinois, Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University, 1960.
The establishment of Illinois County by the Virginia legislature (1778) occurred while the territory northwest of the Ohio River was claimed by Virginia on the basis of her first colonial charter and the expedition of George Rogers Clark. Although its boundaries were not in all respects definite, this early county embraced roughly the region between the Wabash, Ohio, Mississippi and Illinois rivers, thus including perhaps two-thirds of the present state.
The chief executive officer of the county was the county lieutenant, appointed by the governor of Virginia. The lieutenant commanded the militia and appointed militia officers. Civil officers to which the inhabitants had been accustomed were chosen by the local citizens and paid as formerly. Any additional officers appointed by the lieutenant were paid from the Virginia treasury.
The statute establishing Illinois County was to remain in effect for one year, and thereafter until the end of the next legislative session. In 1790 the law was renewed for a similar period, but it expired in 1792. By an "act of cession" passed by her legislature in 1783, and a "deed of cession" executed the following year in conformity to that act, Virginia's claims to the region northwest of the Ohio were ceded to the United States . . .
By the Ordinance of 1787, enacted by the Confederation Congress "for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of River Ohio," the territorial governor was charged with setting up proper divisions for the execution of civil and criminal process. It was also the governor's duty, as circumstances might require, to lay out those parts of the district, in which the Indian titles had been extinguished, into counties and townships, subject to such subsequent alterations as might be made by the legislature. During the period while the area comprising the present state of Illinois was included in the Northwest Territory, new counties were regularly erected and county boundaries altered by executive proclamation. . . .
The Ordinance of 1787 provided that the governor, prior to the organization of the General Assembly, should "appoint such magistrates and other civil officers, in each county or township, as he shall find necessary for the preservation of the peace and good order in the same." . . . Legislation adopted in 1788 provided for justices of the peace, a court of quarter sessions, a court of common pleas, and a court of probate, in each county. . . . The General Assembly of the Northwest Territory, at its first session, in 1799, established in each county a three-member board of county commissioners with authority to control the fiscal affairs of the county subject to the supervision by the court of quarter sessions. . . . In addition to the various agencies already discussed, there were appointed by the governor in each county a sheriff, a coroner, a treasurer, and a recorded, with functions quite similar to those performed by the corresponding officials at the present time. Fence viewers, whose duty it was to pass upon the legality of fences and, in case of dispute, were appointed by the court of quarter sessions in each county. Between 1799 and 1803, a county tax collector was appointed by the board of county commissioners, the function of collector being transferred to the sheriff in the latter year. . . .
Township government also began to take shape during this early period. By an act of 1790, the court of quarter sessions in each county was directed to divide the county into townships, and to appoint in each township a township clerk, one or more constables, and one or more overseers of the poor. Subsequent acts provided for the appointment of township highway supervisors and fence viewers. It should be noted, however, that the township of the Northwest Territory was in real sense a unit of local self-government, but was merely an administrative area for the purpose of carrying on certain local functions under county supervision. . . .
By an act of May 7, 1800, Congress divided the Northwest Territory and erected the western part thereof into Indiana Territory. The new territory included within its boundaries the present states of Illinois, Wisconsin, most of present Indiana, and portions of Michigan and Minnesota. . . .
In 1809 Indiana Territory was divided by congressional act and the western part thereof organized as Illinois Territory. The new territory included within its boundaries the present states of Illinois and Wisconsin together with portions of northern Michigan and Minnesota. . . . Ten new counties were thus established between 1812 and the admission of Illinois to statehood, making a total of fifteen counties in what is now Illinois at the end of the territorial period. Of these, twelve were located in the southern end of the state, while the remaining three - Madison, Bond and Crawford - stretched northward across northern Illinois and on to the Canadian boundary. The admission of Illinois as a state in 1818 resulted in no charge in county boundaries except that the three northern counties subsequently had as their northern limit the northern boundary in the state.
Sutton, Robert. Illinois Railroads in the Civil War, Illinois Civil War Sketches, No. 7, Springfield, IL: Illinois State Historical Library, 1963.
When civil war split the Union in the spring of 1861, the role to be played by American railroads was only slightly understood. Except for a limited experience during the Mexican War in the 1840s, the potential of the "iron horse" as a military factor was largely unknown. Yet very early in the conflict General George B. McClellan observed that "the construction of railroads has introduced a new and very important element into the war," and before the guns were silenced at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, this comparatively new mode of transportation had established itself as a truly significant force n military operations.
Railroading was still in its infancy when the Civil War began. The oldest lines in the United States had been operating barely over thirty years, and on many of the western and southern roads, the new iron rails were scarcely rusted and the hastily laid ties were still green. The 1850s had been explosive in terms of railway building. Of the approximately 30,000 miles of railroad in the United States in 1860, nearly 22,000 miles had been built in the past ten years. And of that expansion, almost 14,000 miles had been constructed in the north with Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois leading all other states.
Thus, Illinois shared handsomely in the transportation revolution of the 1850s, and the basic outline of today's railroad map of the Prairie State took shape during those years. A novelty at the beginning of the decade, the railroad became firmly entrenched in the public mind as well as in the economic and social fabric of the state at its end.
In 1850, the year in which the first federal land grant act stimulated the building of the Illinois Central Railroad, Illinois had just over one hundred miles of lines in service. This mileage was concentrated in two roads, the so-called Northern Cross line connecting Springfield with the Illinois River, and the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad running westward out of the "Windy City" with a branch to Aurora. . . .
The surge of railroad building, led by the Illinois Central whose 705 miles of tracks constructed between 1851 and 1856, traversed the state in the form of an irregular Y, made it the longest railroad in the world at the time. With one arm resting on the Mississippi River opposite Dubuque, Iowa, and the other touching Lake Michigan at Chicago, this road located its southern terminus at the strategic junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers at Cairo, Illinois. . . .
Illinois enjoyed an . . . advantage in the fact that all of her track (with the exception of the broad-gauge Ohio and Mississippi line) was built to the same width, which eventually became the standard gauge of the country: 4 feet, 8 1/2 inches. While this was beneficial to the free flow of goods throughout the state in the early days, it was far more important in later years when the frequent interchange of freight cars from road to another became the accepted practice. Consequently, the railroads of Illinois were able to answer the call to arms which came in April, 1861.
Very early in the war, the Illinois Central Railroad was called upon to meet an emergency with action unique in transportation circles up that time. . . . The federal government, ably assisted by the state of Illinois, and the Illinois Central Railroad, moved swiftly to protect Cairo and the strategic Ohio-Mississippi river junction. . . .
Orders to move a detachment from Chicago to Cairo reached General Swift on April 20 [1861], along with warnings that the wooden railroad bridge over the Big Muddy Creek near Carbondale was in grave danger of being destroyed. Swift, recognizing the emergency, arranged for extra equipment with the Illinois Central officials and prepared to depart for southern Illinois; even though the troops and supplies at his disposal were not adequate for combat. The Illinois; even though the troops and supplies at Cairo expedition, nearly six hundred men, forty-six horses, and four brass "six pounder" cannons, left Chicago late at night on April 21. A pilot engine ran ahead to determine whether the "the secessionists in southern Illinois might have torn up the tracks or burned the bridges," and the train stopped long enough to assign a detachment of troops to guard the Big Muddy bridge before reaching Cairo on April 23.
The troops set up camp along the Ohio River levee near the St. Charles Hotel, thus beginning the rapid build-up of Cairo as a Union military and naval depot. Between April 21 and December 31, 1861, the Illinois Central moved seventy thousand troops, more than twenty thousand of whom were destined for camps in and around Cairo. Not until the Mississippi River was opened, and the war moved on to the southeastern states did Cairo lose the characteristics of a front-line staging area. Throughout the war, with the Illinois Central Railroad standing at its back, this quaint river town served as a major Union stronghold. . . .
The Civil War also witnessed considerable experimentation and innovation by American railroads. Generally it can be said that prosperity furnished the capital, and heavy traffic and rising costs the incentive to carry out these experiments. In Illinois, certain lines, among them the St. Louis, Alton & Chicago, the Terre Haute, Alton & St. Louis, and the Illinois Central introduced crude sleeping cars on their routes prior to the war. George M. Pullman's first sleeping car was placed in service on the St. Louis, Alton & Chciago line on September 1, 1859, but it was later a deluxe car, the Pioneer, which brought him fame and eventually fortune. Mary Todd Lincoln requested that this car (completed early in 1865, but not yet in service) be attached to the martyred President's funeral train in Chicago for use on the last portion of the slow and sorrowful journey from Washington to Springfield, Illinois. Not long after the Lincoln funeral journey, General Ulysses S. Grant rode the deluxe Pullman car from Detroit to his home in Galena, using the Chicago & North Western lines west of Chicago. In a very few years the Pullman Palace Car became both the standard of quality as well as the symbol of luxury on American railroads.
With a number of midwestern roads began to offer sleeping car service, several Illinois lines were experimenting with coal as locomotive fuel. By 1859, twenty-two of the 112 locomotives on the Illinois Central were burning coal. The change-over continued during the war, and at its conclusion onl five of the IC's expanded fleet of 151 engines still burned wood. On the Rock Island, at the war's end, thirty-five out of the ninety-two locomotives burned coal, while on the Terre Haute, Alton & St. Louis only sixteen out of forty-six were coal burners.
Usually a ton of coal and a cord of wood were about equal in the distance that they would propel a steam locomotive; the Illinois Central reported in its 1862 Annual Report that it got an average of 40-42 miles per cord of wood compared with 37 miles on about a ton of coal, bu the cost factor quickly came to favor coal. . . .
In March, 1862, representatives from a number of roads in Illinois and Wisconsin met in Chicago to establish a uniform system of freight handling and to consider the adoption of various rules governing rates, passenger train fares, and other matters.
The beginning of the Railway Mail Service dates from the Civil War years. George B. Armstrong, who was assigned early in the war to bring order in the delivery of mail to the troops stationed in and around Cairo, was the father of this service. As assistant postmaster in Chicago in 1864, he was authorized to experiment with a railway postal car in which a staff of experienced clerks attempted to pick up, sort, and distribute mail en route. Such a car was put in service on August 28, 1865, between Chicago and Clinton, Iowa, on the Chicago & North Western Railway, with immediate success. Before the war was over, similar cars were introduced on the Burlington, the Illinois Central, the St. Louis, Alton & Chicago, and on the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad in Missouri. The far-reaching improvement in the United States Postal Service springs from this experimentation.
Vasconcelles, Anna. County Courthouse Records Presently Used in Genealogical Research, nd.
Vital Statistics - birth and death records, required since 1877, however very few were kept until 1916 when it became law. Prior to 1916 held at the county clerk's office. After 1916 kept by county and state Bureau of Vital Statistics.
Marriage records - kept from the beginning of the state in the county where the marriage occurred. Before 1878 only the names of the bride and groom were recorded with the name of the minister. If either were under 21 a parent or guardian was required to sign. After 1877 counties required an application to be filed includes names of the couple, ages, nativity, number of marriages, parents, location of marriage and by whom.
Probate - index - alphabetical by surname, first name, number of drawer or packet.
Testate - decedent left a will - either written or spoken (non-cupitive).
Intestate - no will or not located, the court appoints an administrator by letters of administration.
Probate Packet - somewhere in the packet you will find the date of death. If probate was filed shortly after death the date should be correct. If the probate was delayed, the date may be in error. Packets may include:
- administrator's bond / letters of administration
- will
- appraisal of estate
- inventory of estate
- sale bill
- request by executor or administrator to dispose of property, especially in insolvent estates
- widow's relinquishment and/or selection
- final settlement
- copies of bills, receipts, IOU's
Some counties file these records separately as:
- Administrator's Record
- Foreign Will Record
- Administrator's Record w/ Will Annexed
- Executor's Record
- Estate Inventory Record
- Appraisement Record
- Widow's Selection Record
- Estate Sale Record
- Administrator's Settlement Record
- Estate Settlement Record
- Probate Judgement Dockets
- Estate Dockets
Probate Journal or Minutes - daily register of probate proceedings kept by the clerk which shows court term, petitions for probate, bonds, oaths, etc. If a death date is known but no probate is listed in the index, the probate journal may be checked for possible entries for estates which were not completely filed for probate. They could have been withdrawn for some reason - the reason will be in the minutes of journal.
Guardianship - index by surname, first name of incompetent or orphan, then by packet or case number
Deeds - indexed by grantee and grantor
Other - occasionally you will find many other documents filed in the deed records such as:
- pre-nuptial agreements
- marriages
- birth records
- power of attorney
Circuit Court Records
Chancery Court Records - land division, divorces, wills, personal property foreclosures, inventories of estates when the deceased is a partner in business.
Election Records
Poll Books - lists of voters made by election clerk
Final tallies of votes - these poll books are valuable for placing a person in a certain place at a particular time. Since elections were held frequently, it is possible to find when an individual came into or left the area by his voting record.
Tax Records - kept yearly for real and personal property, can track people between census records and use as replacement for the 1890 census.
County Commissioners Proceedings & Board of Supervisor Proceedings - appointments, oaths, bonds, petitions from citizens, jury duty, licenses, applications for relief and care of the poor and indigent. Generally not index, difficult to use, but sometimes the only record of the death of a pauper as commissioners had to pay for the construction of coffin and burial.
County Homes - may or may not be indexed
Inmate Register - name, sex, age, color, occupation, residence, birthplace, marital status, etc.
Naturalization Records
Declaration of Intent - usually gives detailed information about the individual such as where they were born and when they migrated. Could be filed shortly after arrival in U.S., therefore could be in New York or other port state and then the person could move several times before filing final papers.
Final Papers - usually only list the country from which the person came from and the name of the individual.
Williams, Claire. The Old Cemetery of Carmi, Illinois 1817-1966, no imprint, 1980.
Map of cemetery
Map of Quadrant 2C
Grave 191. Mich'l Dietz, Co. A, 91st Ind. Inf.
Grave 192. Anna, dau. of M & A.R. Dietz [illegible]
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