The
Founding Pioneers
Compiled by Ralph S. Harrelson for Illinois
Magazine, February 1978
Brief Portraits of early pioneers who were in Hamilton County prior to 1821.
Enos
T. Allen: Was
present at the founding of the county and was appointed magistrate in 1821.
He was a justice of the peace and one of the early county commissioners.
Mr. Allen served as county surveyor from 1827 into 1847.
John
Anderson: Came
from Kentucky to this vicinity about 1818.
He settled near the present spillway of the city lake.
His house served as the Seat of Justice for Hamilton County during
formation and until a court building was erected in McLeansboro.
Mr. Anderson, born May 10, 1780 in Virginia, married Mourning Maulding,
daughter of Ambrose Maulding. John
and Mourning Anderson were buried in the Rathbone cemetery south of McLeansboro.
Joseph T. Atchisson: Was born in Port Tobacco, Md. He settled in present Hamilton County about 1819. He was married to Margaret W. Hopper of Jefferson County, Illinois. Mr. Atchison served in the War of 1812. He lived about seven miles west of McLeansboro. He was a merchant. Some of the descendants use a singe “s” in spelling the name.
Abraham
M. Auxier:
Was one of the very early pioneers of this area. He settled northwest of present McLeansboro, near Auxier
Creek before 1816. The creek and
Auxier’s Prairie was named for him. His
descendants still live in the county.
Jacob
Braden:
Came to the Hamilton County area with his father’s family about 1818.
He married Nancy Johnson. They
lived in the area north of present Walpole, but later removed to near Braden.
Jacob and Nancy were the parents of eleven children, one of them the
well-known Uncle Alfred Braden, who was born in 1820 in this county.
Chester Carpenter: Was an “Old School” Baptist preacher. He was one of the three ministers making up the presbytery in the constitution of Ten Mile Creek Baptist church in 1820. Elder Carpenter also helped to organize many other Baptist churches in this and adjoining counties. He presided as moderator for the Muddy River, Association a number of years in its early existence. Carpenter’s son, Milton, also a Baptist minister, became Treasurer of the State of Illinois. There is a headstone for Chester Carpenter in the Odd Fellows Cemetery at McLeansboro. Chester Carpenter, Jr., was his grandson.
Adam Crouch: Was a native of Virginia, and came to this county area about 1816. Mr. Crouch served as one of the county commissioners. He lived north of McLeansboro, near the Crouch road, and the road and township where he lived took his name.
John
Dale:
Settled in the Hamilton County area about 1816. He was first married to Elizabeth Shirley and second to Nancy
Hall. He was a farmer and mechanic,
and built the first cotton gin and some of the first mills in the state of
Illinois. He lived in the vicinity
to Ten Mile church.
John Flint: Married Nancy, daughter of William and Sally (Coffman) Hungate, while still a part of White County. This Flint family lived beside the Goshen Road south of the Knights Prairie church, and it is reported they operated a travelers inn. The descendants of John and Nancy Flint are traced through a number of well-known pioneer families. They, with some of their children and many of their descendants are buried in the old cemetery at Knights Prairie.
Gilbert
Griswold:
Was one of the early pioneers in the Walpole area. He entered land in 1818 where Walpole was later platted.
He operated a Travelers Inn on the Goshen Road immediately north of
present Walpole. The Griswold Post
Office was established there in 1832, and evidently named for Gilbert Griswold.
John
Hall:
Born 1799 in Union County, Kentucky. Settled
in this area about 181. In 1824 he
married Nancy Shirley. This family
lived beside the Goshen Road southeast of the old Reed school and Hall was the
chief promoter of that school, some of his children teaching there.
Mr. Hall ran a grist mill and blacksmith shop which stood across the road
from his dwelling. John and Nancy were the parents of Col. H. W. Hall.
They are buried in the Ten Mile cemetery, Hamilton County.
Charles McDonald Heard: Son of Charles and Jennie (Logan) Heard, settled in present Flannigan Township about 1816. His wife was Sarah Moore, daughter of John and Mary (Duff) Moore. Mr. Heard was a soldier in the War of 1812, Tennessee Volunteers. He died quite young and was buried on his farm in Flannigan Township. His widow later married James Allen, and after Mr. Allen’s death, married John H. Blacker.
William
Hogg:
We give pioneer William Bryant’s sketch for this subject.
“The first settlement made in Hamilton County was…that made by
William Hogg. This gentleman was
the father-in-law of Mr. John Townsend and the grandfather of the wife of Mr.
John Hayse now living near McLeansboro. The
settlement was at the place where Sam Mann now lives.”
This put the Hogg Settlement between Smith cemetery and Dale, Illinois. Hogg Creek was given this family name.
Benjamin
Hood:
Son of Dempsey and Charity (Hill) Hood who settled in Jefferson County, was
married to Nancy, daughter of John and Polly Daily of this county.
He was a carpenter and built one of the early log courthouses and a
number of dwellings in McLeansboro. He
served as sheriff and county commissioner of this county.
Benjamin and Nancy lived in early McLeansboro and later on their farm
northwest of the town.
William
Hungate:
Of English ancestry, removed to the Hamilton County area in 1817.
His wife was the former Sally Coffman.
The Hungates lived in the area west of present McLeansboro.
Their children married into other pioneer families of the Knights Prairie
area. The descendants of William
and Sally Hungate are quite numerous.
Robert Johnson: Son of John Johnson, a Revolutionary soldier, came to the Hamilton County area about 1819. He wife was the former Elizabeth Lewis, whom he married in Kentucky. This Johnson family pioneered in present Flannigan Township. They were members of the Regular Baptist church, and were interred in the Little Spring cemetery.
James
Lane:
Was born in North Carolina. He came
to this area in 1818, settling about three miles east of present McLeansboro.
In the first election in Hamilton County, April 2, 1821, Lane was elected
coroner. He also served several
terms as county commissioner. His
wife was the former Mary Phipps and they were the parents of Judge James Lane of
this county. James Lane, Sr., died in 1846.
Jesse C. Lockwood: Was born in Poundridge, New York, the son of Joseph and Mary (Drake) Lockwood. He came to this area about 1818. He held five principal county offices at the founding of Hamilton County in 1821. Mr. Lockwood was also a merchant and at one time held the office as postmaster in McLeansboro. He died in 1847. Mr. Lockwood, his wife Elsey (Elsie), and some of his children at time of their decease were interred in a family cemetery located immediately south of Meadow Hills addition to McLeansboro.
Ambrose Maulding: Came to this area about 1815, settling on Hogg Prairie in section 13, west of present McLeansboro, and north of Ten Mile Church. Mr. Maulding, a Revolutionary soldier, was a judge in Kentucky before coming to Illinois. After coming to Illinois he was a justice of the peace in White County, and helped to select the seat of justice for Jefferson County. He died in 1833, and is buried in the Ten Mile Church cemetery, where a Memorial was erected by his descendants.
Ennis Maulding: A son of Ambrose, settled west of present McLeansboro. Ennis Maulding served as supervisor on some of the early trails, such as the Carmi-Kaskaskia, that coursed through this county. He represented this county in the State Senate 1830-1834. Ennis later removed to Wayne County, Illinois where he built a mill on the Skillet Fork, north of present Wayne City. The place was on early maps designated as Maulding’s Mill.
Frederick Mayberry: Was born in Virginia, son of Frederick and Barbara (Nalls) Mayberry. He married Priscilla Yokum and removed to present Mayberry Township area before 1818. He was a Revolutionary soldier. In 1821, he and Daniel Powell were appointed “fence viewers” by the county commissioners. Mayberry township was named for him. He and Priscilla are at rest in Big Hill cemetery.
George McKenzie: Was born 1771 in Canada. He came to the area of Mayberry Township from Tennessee about 1819, where he died in 1836. His second wife was Betsy Ann Vickers. Mr. McKenzie was a justice of the peace in White County, and for a number of years in this county. He was a judge in some of the early elections – one as early as 1821 in this county.
Dr. William Byars McLean: Dr. McLean was born in North Carolina in 1791. His wife was Margaret McKinney. McLean gave as his address Christian County, Kentucky when making a patent application for land he entered in 1818, a part of which became McLeansborough, named for the doctor. He was the son of Rev. Ephraim McLean, and grandson of Col. Charles McLean. Doctor McLean removed to Randolph County, Missouri about 1830. He later sold the remainder of his quarter section on which McLeansboro was located to Daniel Marshall and Charles H. Heard.
Ichabod Mitchell: Was born in Halifax County, Va., February 17, 1790, and came from Tennessee to the Hamilton County area in 1818. Mr. Mitchell lived east of the Hopewell Baptist church, which he helped to found. He was married to Mary Lane, daughter of Isaac Lane. Ichabod served in the War of 1812 and was wounded at New Orleans. He was one of the first justices of the peace for this county and officiated at the first four weddings here. He also served as a county commissioner.
Jeremiah Moore: Lived in the area southwest of Ten Mile church. The Ten Mile church was organized in his home. August 10, 1819, Mr. Moore entered from the government the NE1/4 of SW1/4 of section 24, T.% - R.%. This land is about one-half mile from Ten Mile church. [From Sheila Smith Cadwalader: Jeremiah Moore was from Laurens Co., SC. He traveled to IL (via Barron Co., KY) with his children and son-in-law Joe Page, husband of Rebecca Moore.]
John Moore: Was a descendant of the distinguished colonial Moore family of South Carolina. He, with his wife Mary (Duff) Moore came to the Hamilton County area with the Heards about 1816. Many persons now in Hamilton County are descendants of John and Nancy Moore. John Moore lived southwest of Ten Mile church and he and his wife are at rest in the cemetery there.
Little
Page Proctor:
Was elected one of the first county commissioners of Hamilton County in
1821. He was a soldier of the
Revolution, and War of 1812. Mr.
Proctor settled east of present McLeansboro about 1817.
He was also a Methodist minister and was associated with the Concord M.
E. church, evidently the oldest Methodist church in the county.
Proctor was buried in that church cemetery.
Lorenzo Rathbone: Was one of the early surveyors of this county, a medical doctor and Presbyterian minister. He was also the county’s third school commissioner. Mr. Rathbone married Permelia, daughter of John and Mourning (Maulding) Anderson. The Rathbones lived about one mile south of McLeansboro, beside the old McLeansboro-Golconda road. They are at rest in the family cemetery that was laid out on their farm.
Joseph
Shelton:
Arrived with his wife in the area of present Dahlgren about 1820, settling
northeast of the present village. Mr.
Shelton was a soldier in the War of 1812 and Black Hawk War.
He was interred in a cemetery on the family farm.
Thomas
Sloo, Jr.:
Was this county’s first surveyor. In
1821 he surveyed the site of the original county seat, McLeansborough.
He owned lots in the original town and many other tracts of land in the
county. Sloo represented Hamilton
County in the State Senate 1822-1826. One
source says that Thomas Sloo, Jr. was born 1790 in Kentucky and died January 17,
1879 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Another
Thomas Sloo served as registrar at the Land Office in Shawneetown, who according
to his letter in Territorial Papers was born in New York, city and state.
Was he Thomas Sloo, Jr.’s father?
Job Standerfer: Was the son of Arch (Archibald) Standerfer, and settled in this area in 1816. He married May Daily, daughter of pioneer John Daily. The Standerfers settled northwest of present McLeansboro. Mr. Standerfer held a number of county offices including that of associate justice of the county court. He and his wife were members of the Ten Mile church where Job served as assistant clerk at one time. Later they became charter members of Blooming Grove church.
Thompson
Stelle, Sr.:
Was a native of New Jersey, and settled in the Knights Prairie area about 1816,
later settling on the old Ennis Maulding farm west of McLeansboro.
His grandson, by the same name became a well-known lawyer in this county.
There is a memorial headstone in the Ten Mile cemetery,
Townsend
Tarlton:
Was a member of the first county commissioners’ court of this county, elected
in 1821. It is reported that he
called the county commissioners together for the first meeting, April 9, 1821.
He is also credited with building the first log county building on the
northwest corner of the public square, and in which building the
commissioners’ court met in June 1821.
William
Wheeler, Sr.:
Was one of the first county commissioners elected in 1821.
Mr. Wheeler settled in the area of the present Concord church about 1817.
Wheeler Creek was named for this family. William Wheeler, it is written, was a half-brother of Abner
Pierce who came here at the same time.
