USA > Illinois > Madison County > Alton > Gazetteer of Madison County : containing historical and descriptive sketches of Alton City, Upper Alton, Edwardsvile, Collinsville, Highland, Troy, Monticello, Mairne, Bethalto, and other towns, including some account of the resources of the various townships, to which is added a directory of the Altons,. > Part 36
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After a Inpse of five years of doubt, trial and disappointment, lie learned from some French traders, that among the Kickapoos of Illinois, at a treaty of Green- ville, the chief of the Indian tribe promised to give up all American captives, but a French trader had made arrangements for ransoming them, the goods being furnished by an Irish trader in Cahokia, by the name of Atchison. With two Frenchmen for interpreters and guides, Mr. Gillham visited the Indian town on Salt Creek, and found his wife and children all alive and well.
But the younger son, Clement, could not speak a word of English, and it was some time before he would even own his father, or could be pursuaded to leave the Indian country, and he was left for a time with them. Mr. Gillham had be- come enamored with the fine country of Illinois, and after he had gathered his family together in Kentucky, he resolved to go to the delightful prairies he had visited.
In 1797, seven years after the captivity, and two years after the recovery of his captive family, Mr. Gillham gathered all his earthly goods together, and went on board a pirouge in company with Rev, John Clark, (of precious memory to all the early settlers of Illinois,) and started upon his way down the Ohio to its conflu- ence with the Mississippi.
When the emigrants reached Kaskaskia, they disposed of their boat to some French voyagers, and made their location near Harrisonville, some twenty-five miles above Kaskaskia, and about the same distance below St. Louis, in the American Bottom. Both Gillham and his family were hospitably received by all the settlers, for they knew their trials and the history of their captivity.
About the year 1800, Mr. Gillham and family moved from their first settlement in the American Bottom below St. Louis to the American Bottom above, where, in consideration of his trials and privations, the United States bestowed upon his noble wife one hundred and sixty acres of land, on which they lived until they
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MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
Samuel J. Gillham married Elizabeth Walker and is residing in Clinton county, Illinois. They have a son, Isom, a physician, and several other children younger.
Gershom M. Gillham married a Miss M. Self, January, 1841, and resided for many years in St. Joseph, Mo. He now has a second wife and resides in Clinton county, Ill.
Adelaide Gillham married Thomas Brown and died within two years. Their only child is Samuel Thomas, who married a Miss Keller, and is be- lieved to be a resident of Piatt county, Ill.
Louisa Gillham was the first wife of Samuel P. Gillham.
Nancy Gillham was married to Levin Cooper. Their children are : LOUISA, who is married and resides in Lebanon, Ill.
ANN ELIZA, now the widow of - Lewis. Also
SAMUEL J. and JAMES MARSHALL.
ISAAC the second son of James Gillham sen., and the one who by his athers exertion escaped captivity by the Indians, afterwards married Eleanor Patterson, and lived on the American Bottom. Their children were Sally, Eliza, Zeruiah, Ellen, Franklin, Arilda, Indiana; also John Milton and nine others that died in childhood.
Sally Gillham was married to Charles Brown, who died in 1828. She was afterwards married to James M. Murphy. The children of the first marriage were :
ISAAC, died in his eighth year.
JOHN LEWELLYN, married Mary Dunnagan, and died some two years since. His children were Emma, Florence, and others that died young.
ELIZA, married to James Douglas, and resides near Clayton, Illinois.
CHARLES, died when a youth.
The children of the second marriage were :
JAMES, died unmarried.
INDIANA, married to a Mr. McMurray, and resides in Adams county, Illinois.
ELLEN, was married to a Mr. Beckett, also of Adams county. HENRY.
Eliza Gillham was married to Philip Day. Their children:
JOHN MILTON, who married Caroline Stringer and died July, 1865, leaving one son: Charles Eugene Day.
MARTHA and SARAH.
ISAAC GILLHAM and PHILLIP MCMURRAY died young. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.
Arilda Gillham was the second (her sister Indiana having been the first) wife of Isaiah Dunnagan. She died a year or two after marriage. Her children were twins, one of which died in infancy. The surviving child, named for her mother Arilda, was afterwards married to Ezekiel B. Good, and resides in Lawrence, Kansas.
Zeruiah Gillham was married to James Douglas, but died not long afterwards, leaving one daughter, Zeruiah who was recently married to a Mr. Bryant, near Clayton, Illinois. Mr. Douglas afterwards married Eliza Brown, a niece of his first wife.
WILLIAM
Son of Thomas Gillham Ist, was married in South Carolina, and emi-
were called from this to a better land. Their tract of land lies in the American Bottom, two miles from the Mississippi, at the head of Long Lake, seven miles below Alton. They had three children after their captivity-James H., David and Nancy. They all settled in their father's neighborhood, and their numerous des- cendents are living near the homestead of their ancestors.
[Mr. Samuel P. Gillham, now residing about ten miles south-east from Alton, stated to the writer that he had never seen a correct account of the capture of his uncle's family, and hence there are doubtless some minor inaccuracies in the above, which is given as we find it in print.
41-
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grated to the Six Mile Prairie, east of St. Louis after his brother James had recovered his family from the Indians. As early as 1820 or 1822, he removed to Jersey county, Illinois, where many of his descendents reside. He had three sons, John Davidson, Ezekiel and William, also Jane and several other daughters, names not obtained.
JOHN D. married; had two sons and one daughter:
MARK, married and lived in Jersey county, Illinois.
ANDREW, married, and since deceased.
MARIA, married to H. Colene.
EZEKIEL married and raised a large family among whom were several daughters and a son
JAMES D. now a Methodist minister, in Salem, Illinois.
One of the daughters of William Gillham, sen., were married to John Lofton, whose sons Thomas G., Samuel and John Lofton are well known.
JOHN
Another son of Thomas Gillham, Ist, married Sarah Clark in South Carolina. Their childern: Margaret, Ann, Thomas, died single, James, Ryderus, Susannah, Charles, Sally, Polly, John and William.
MARGARET Was married in South Carolina to Samnel Brown, and a few years afterwards immigrated to this county. IIer descendants are now mostly living in Scott county, Illinois. The children of this marriage were: Benjamin, Thomas, Daniel, Sarah, Susan, Samuel P., Ryderus Clark, Lydia, James, John Sidney, William and Margaret Ann. Many of whom are married and have large families.
ANN the second daughter of John Gillham was married to Isaiah Dnn- nagan, and among their children were Joshua, Thomas, Abner, Louisa. Joseph Clark, and Isaiah.
JAMES second son of John Gillham married Polly Good and lived on the American Bottom. His children are Sally, Polly Ann, Nancy and Martin.
RYDERUS the third son of John Gillham was married to Susannah Brown in 1807. Their children were: Lydia, who was married to James H. Gillham, a grandson of James Gillham 1st; Samuel Parker, John, James died in infancy; Sally, Hannah, Micajah C., and Susannah. His wife died, and he then married a second wife, and had the following children, Stockton, Ann, James, Gershom P., Mary Elizabeth, Ellen and Ryderus Clark.
Of their families we have the names of only one:
Samuel P. Gillham, who now resides on the American Bottom, about ten miles south-east from Alton. In 1833 he married Louisa Gillham, a grand- daughter of James Gillham Ist. Their children :
ADELINE, died in infancy.
JOHN HASKELL, married Mary Ann Ware, March 1, 1866.
ANNA PRISCILLA, died in infancy.
SAMUEL CLARK.
SUSAN SOPHIA, died in infancy.
JAMES SUMMERFIELD and JOHN STRANGE twins died when infants.
MARY ELLEN and JOSHUA EDMONDSON.
LEWIS JEFFERS.
His first wife died and he afterwards married Mrs. Olletha W. Ware. Their children are Wilson Ware, Sarah deceased; and Clara Sciota.
ISAAC.
The fifth son of Thomas Gillham 1st, was married in South Caralina and several years after, about 1804 or 05, emigrated to Illinois and set- tled on the American Bottom. Most of his children were born in South Carolina. Their names as we have them were, Thomas, William, John James, Isaac, Margaret, Susan and Jane, the names of whose children and grandchildren are unknown to us.
SUSANNA.
A daughter of Thomas Gillham Ist, was married to a Mr. Kirkpatrick,
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MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
in South Carolina, who served in the war of Independence. Having at one time been absent in the army for over a year he obtained a furlough and returned home to see his wife and children, who hailed his coming with the greatest delight. During the evening when he had been home but a few hours, while his wife was sitting at his side, one little child upon his knee and the others clustered about, telling him of all that had trans- pired during the long while that he had been away, and in turn listen- ing with intense interest to the narration of his many adventures, suddenly there was a loud report with the flash of a gun at the win- dow, and that husband and father fell a corpse in their midst, mur- dered by a tory assassin.
His widow was afterwards married to a Mr. Scott. The children of the first marriage were John, Thomas, James and Franklin Kirkpatrick.
The daughter of Thomas Gillham Ist, whose name we did not learn was married to a Mr. Davidson, who was killed in a battle of the Revolution, Their children were Thomas G., one of the first Justices of the Peace in. this county; George, William and Sally Davidson.
PREWITT.
MAJORSOLOMON PREWITT is one of the oldest settlers of Madison county having resided here sixty years. He was the youngest child of Martin Prewitt and was born in Virginia, January 7, 1790.# His father removed
*The ancestor of the Prewitt family was a native of North Carolina, and a sol- lier in the war of Independence, and engaged in the memorable conflict at Kings Mountain, in 1780. After the revolution he removed to Virginia, and several years after to Tennessee, with all his family. His sons were: Abraham, Wil- liam, Isaac and Martin.
MARTIN PREWITT, born July, 15th, 1752, also a soldier of the Revolution, and in the battle of Kings Mountain, removed from Tennessee to Illinois, in 1806, and lied at the home of his son Solomon Prewitt, at the age of ninety-two. He married in North Carolina 1771, Mary Woods, born 1753, died 1807, in this county. Children all born in Abington, Washington county, Virginia.
Sarah, born January 22, 1774. Jacob, November 25, 1782.
Laodicea 16 February 22, 1776. William, 66 March 13, 1783.
Elizabeth, - July 7,1778. Margaret,
March 1, 1785. Isaac, 64 December 1, 1779. Jones, February 18, 1788. Abraham, 46 June 15, 1781.
Solomon
January 7, 1790.
SOLOMON PREWITT married in 1809 Rebecea Higgins, who died October 9th, 1855; married a second wife, Elizabeth, sister of Rebecca, who died March 29th, 1861. The children of Solomon and Rebecca Prewitt were:
Abraham, born October 12th, 1810; married Millie Woods, since deceased. They had six children.
Isaac, born August 14th, 1822; married Susan Braden; had six children. His first wife died, and he married Isabella Bivens. Three children.
Jacob, born January Ist, 1815; married Clarinda Starkey. Nine children.
Martin, born December 9th, 1816; married Mary Fay. Nine children. James, born September 29th, 1818; married Malinda Starkey. Two sons. Elizabeth, born January 3d, 1821; married Thomas Jones. Six children. William, born March 2d, 1824; died an infant.
Vancy, born June 5th, 1825; Married John Dillon. Eight children; four living. Wiley, born Feb. 12th, 1829; married Mary Ellen Lyon. Six children; three living. Mary, born March - 1829; married Josiah Vaughn. Eight children; four living.
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from Tennessee to Illinois in 1806, and located on Sand Ridge Prairie, three miles east of Alton. The subject of this sketch was elected Captain of a militia company in the twenty-first year of his age. In 1813 he volunteer- ed and joined the Rangers in the war against Great Britain, and served until the declaration of peace. In 1818 he removed to his present residence one and a half miles south of Bethalto.
In 1831, when Black Hawk raised the war whoop, Mr. Prewitt volun- teered and was sent by the commander as captain of a spy company which marched to Rock Island, when the Indians entered into a treaty and the company returned home. On Black Hawk's reopening hostilities in the spring of 1832 Mr. Prewitt volunteered and went again as captain. The company marched to Beardstown where the regiment was organized and Capt. P. elected Lient .- Colonel. At the close of the Black Hawk war the regiment was disbanded at the mouth of Fox River. On hie arrival home the people elected him major of the militia, an office which he held for many years with credit to himself and the Battalion.
We will here add a few notes taken down from his own lips relative to the early times, "Sixty years ago :"#
*In a letter to the writer Major Prewitt says: In 1767, when my father Martin Prewitt, was fifteen years of age, he went to the wild woods of Kentucky, in com- pany with his father, Daniel Boone, John Finley, Isaac Beleher, and other hun- ters. They camped on Kentneky river, and staid nine months, when they re- turned to North Carolina, with their pack-horses, peltry and furs. My father married my mother, Mary Woods, in North Carolina. When the revolutionary war commenced my grandfather and my father joined General Washington's army, and served as soldiers till the Colonies gained their independence. Dur- ing the war Gen. Cornwallis, of the British army sent Ferguson with one thous- and four hundred torles to break up some new counties on the frontier, and when the backwoods Mountaineers heard the news they rallied together three hundred strong, near Kings Mountain. My father, with big brother Isaac Prewitt and my father-in-law, Philip Higgins, all took a part in that battle, Before the attack was made a council was held, in which it was decided that all should re- turn but one thousand picket men who, led on by the brave Colonels Campbell, Cleveland, Shelby, Sevier and Williams, ascended the hill, and commenced the at- taek. Like Sinai of old, the top of the mountain was wrapped in smoke and flame as the leaden hail eame whizzing from every quarter, and in forty minutes Ferguson was slain, and the whole of his party killed, wounded and taken pris- oners.
When the revolutionary war was over, my grandfather and all his family re- moved to the State of Virginia, and remained there for several years. When the settling of Tennessee commeneed he removed thither. There they were en- gaged in a defensive warfare against the Cherokee Indians, in which my uncles Abraham and William Prewitt, were killed. We lived in forts till a treaty was made with the Indians, when we went home and lived in peace, till 1800. My father then sold his farm and emigrated to Illinois, and settled on the Sandridge Prairie. Here my mother died, in the year 1807. My father and myself continued to live alone at that place. I was then sixteen years of age; at nineteen I married Rebecca Higgins, who was then seventeen years of age. In 1818, I removed to my present residence, one and a half miles south from Bethalto, where my father lived with me until his death, at the age of ninety-one years, eleven months and eight days.
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MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
"At the time I came here in 1806 there was only one house in the forks of Wood River, where a man by the name of Benjamin Carter, a boot and shoe maker lived. George Moore afterwards bought him out and put up a log house, which is the one now (1866) occupied by Wiliam Gill, (n. e. qr n. w. qr. sec. 10 t 5 9.) Able and George and their brother-in-law Beman came up in the Spring ISOS, from the mouth of the Cumberland in a boat built by themselves and landed at Gibralter, just above the mouth of Wood River. Nathaniel Buckinaster owned the land there and wanted to build a town. He formed a company for the purpose, but the thing fell through, He offered Thomas Rattan, who made the West farm, (s. e. gr. sec. 7, 5 8,) two lots to go down and in the place. Eli Langford then had a ferry at that point, and ran across both rivers, (Mississippi and Mis- souri). Thomas Carlin and William Savage lived there also. Piper had a ferry across the Mississippi at the mouth of Hop Hollow, (s. w. sec. 3, 5 10.) This ferry was afterwards owned by Michael Squire and Smeltzer. Smeltzer built a brick house on the Missouri side, with brick that he made on this side. (This is probably the honse giving the nameto "Brick House Bend," and fell down in August, 1866.) He was a great miser. Used to ride with a tow-string bridle. When sick once he told his brother-in-law that he had a barrel of silver dollars buried. He died finally I believe without telling where the money was hidden. Isom Gillham hever had a regular ferry. The first steamboat ever seen here stopped sometime at his place going up the Missouri some time previous to 1818. Gillham proposed to have a town called Johnsonport at that point, but did not succeed. This was below the mouth of Wood River. [Gibralter and Johnsonport are both laid down on Tanner's map published in 1823 as has already been stated.]
Solomon Munson, who afterwards died of consumption, was living near us when we settled on the Sandridge. Mrs. Shield's lived up towards Alton; after her death her son, James Shields and his sister built a cabin on Shields' Branch which was named after them, and lived there a number of years. There was a French trading house on the Alton site, near where the Alton House now stands as early as 1807. It was built of loose rock without mortar and covered with elm bark. Thomas Rattan lived on the old place, (sec 13, 5-9 ?) when we came; my wife's brother (Hig- gins) on what is now my land. William Jones came just a month before we did; he was my first cousin.
There were some elk here when we came. My brother and I killed a four-snag elk above Alton, where Major Long now lives, (n. e. sec. 33, 6-10,) with horns four feet long. There were plenty of them on the Okaw. There were no Buffaloes, but we used to find their horns perfectly sound. A Frenchman named St. John showed mne the place once where he saw the Indians kill seven buffalo on the Okaw. Deer were abundant; I have killed five in a day. Panthers were plenty; I killed two once on Pad- dock's Creek. They had killed a deer and covered it up with leaves and trash. I noticed the female had been suckling, and looking about found a young one that had climbed up a small tree, caught it and brought it home. I killed another near Wiley Prewitt's; and two, an old and young one above Starkey's. Wildcats would come and catch chickens in open daylight. I shot two as they were watching at hollow logs for rabbits. There were two kinds, the larger which we called catamounts was the most troublesome. Foxes also were troublesome. I caughtoneonce in a steel trap. We had Gray and Prairie Wolves, with occasionally a black or dark colored one. I caught thirteen in one pen, when it was burned up by the woods taking fire. I used sometimes to hamstring them and turn them out of the pen and set the dogs on them. Sometimes we used to get wolves into the prairie and run thein down on horseback.
There were a good many Otter on the creeks, and a few now. There were Beaver and a beaver dam on Wood River. They would cut down cottonwood trees six inches in diameter.
Paroquets (Carolina Parrot) used to live in hollow trees on Indian Creek. I have seen a dozen come out of one tree in a winter morning.
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They fed on cockleburs and used to crack small hichory nuts with their bills; sometimes they ate the apples. They were greenish yellow, and a handsome bird. There were Eagles here formely, but I have seen none for years. Also Ravens: they were larger and blacker than our common Crow. Robins and Pheasants have come in since settlement. Several flocks of Pheasants were raised around me, and I tried to save them, but the hunters I think have killed them all off. Waterfowl used to be very abundant. I think I have seen as many as ten thousand a day flying north in the spring.
The winters for a number of years after we came were much more se- vere than they have been since. The snow used to lie on the ground all winter. One winter (about 1827) we had a snow three feet deep on the level with a corresponding greater depth in the hollows. I had hogs that would weigh 200 pounds frozen and starved to death, and found deer that had perished in the same way. During that winter peach trees were killed. In the year 1830 we had frost in every month except July; had a hard frost on the 21st of August. The corn that year was not fit for seed, and seed corn had to be brought up from Tennessee. It was white corn and did not. ripen well here. We got our seed from the Lemen settlement in St. Clair county.
The Indians were at peace when we came and used to come along forty or fifty at a time. They were mostly Kickapoos and were great thieves. Some Winnebagoes stole some horses from us in 1808 and we followed them as far as Elkhart's Grove, where the Kickapoos had a town. We after- wards got most of the horses through the Indian Agent and Governor Har- rison.
The Kickapoo Indians had before we came a little town near where Indian Creek runs through the bluff. I have seen traces of it. They hunted a good deal on Cahokia Creek and Wood River, and had camps at both places.
The French did not live in the county. They used to come up with loads of apples and trade with the people. They had some very good apples. I bought a yellow sort from which I raised and set out in 1820, or thereabouts forty seedling trees. There were six or eight kinds of them some very good. The Whitesides had orchards of peaches and apples when we came. Uel Whiteside had quite a large apple orchard. I do not know that there was any grafted fruit. At Whiteside Station in Monroe county, General Whiteside had a very large orchard.
When we first came there were no public roads. There was afterwards a county road from where Edwardsville now stands through the Sandridge to Langford's ferry. Indian Ford was on Cahokia just below where it. runs through the bluff. At the time of the earthquakes (1811) it was said the earth near this ford cracked wide enough to let a man in. My father had the top of his corn crib shaken off, and some had their chimnies shaken down.
There was a block house on Chahokia Creek opposite the Swett place, built by Colonel Judy, and known as Judy's Block House, and another a little below the mouth of the Illinois, where our men used to go and stay by turns ten or twelve at a time. There was a fort at George Moore's right where William Gill's house now is, and a single block house (Jones') on what is now Wiley Prewitt's farm. Old Fort Russell had a stockade enclosing about half an acre with huts for the men inside. A company of regulars under Captain Ramsey were stationed there. There was also Beeman's Fort in the Bottom, and Hill's Fort on Shoal Creek.
The French had cattle larger than our common sort with monstrous large horns. At the French villages I have seen them worked with a strip of wood before their heads lashed to their horns with leather instead of a yoke. The French ploughs had little wheels to them. They had common fields and shared the keeping up of the fences.
We made our own cloth of wool, flax and cotton. I raised 1,000 pounds of unginned cotton on an acre on the Sandridge, and sold it a 8} cents (six pence) a pound in the seed. Hand gins were used for ginning cotton. \Ve wore buckskin for clothing to some extent.
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MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS
We had no Post Office until one was established in Edwardsville. I had to go to Cahokia to muster, to get my marriage license and my com- missions."
- GAIUS PADDOCK.
(I) ROBERT PADDOCK, the pilgrim ancestor resided in Plymouthi in 1634, and probably several years before and after that time. He afterwards settled in Duxbury and is noticed in Windsor's history of that town. He died in 1650.
(II) ZECHARIAH PADDOCK, born May, 1636, son of the 1st Robert, lived in Yarmouth, Cape Cod, and died there May 1, 1727. A very full and favor- able account of him is given in the Genealogical Register taken from the North-East Weekly Journal of June 5, 1727. He married Deborah Lears (1659) and left of his own posterity forty-eight grand children and thirty- eight great grand children.
(III) ZECHARIAH PADDOCK, born 1664. Of his personal history little is known. Two of his sons, Ichabod and Thomas, removed to Middle- borough.
(IV) ICHABOD PADDOCK was born in Yarmouth, June 1, 1687. He mar- ried Joanna Faunce and moved to Middleborough in 1722.
(V) ZACHARIAH PADDOCK, seventhi child of Ichabod, born Feb. 20, 1725. Married Martha Washburn 1748, and lived in Middleborough. He died June 4, 1795.
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