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 37
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(VI) GAIUS PADDOCK, the subject of this sketch, was the fourth child of Zachariah and born Nov. 2, 1758. At the age of seventeen he enlisted in the army of the United States at the commencement of the war with Great Britain, and served his country until its close. He was in the army that crossed the Delaware with Washington. He married, in 1786, Polly Wood and the next year removed to Woodstock, Vermont, whence, in the fall of 1815, he removed to Cincinnati, the subsequent year to St. Charles, Mo., and in the spring of 1817 to St. Louis. The next year he came over to Illi- nois and purchased the north-east quarter of section three, town 5, 8, in Madison county, and there resided until his death, which occurred at St. Louis while on a visit to that place, August 11, 1831. Mrs. Paddock died July 15, 1850, "much beloved and respected by an extensive circle of friends and acquaintances, long well known for her charity to the sick and indigent." Their children were :
Jane, who married first Barney Richmond, and secondly Gershom Flagg, died December 12th, 1863. Three children.
Mary, died unmarried, in 1863.
Salome, married Pascal P. Enos; five children.
Susan and Joanna.
Sprout Wood, died November 15th. 1821.
Julia, married first Henry Reiley, and secondly E. C. Blankinship; four children. Eveline.
Orville, married Mary Bailey, seven children.
Elviru, died July 1st, 1863.
GERSHOM FLAGG
Was born in Orwell, Vermont, Nov. 26, 1792, and removed with his father to Richmond in 1800. His education was such as the common schools of that section could then afford, not much in quantity nor first
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rate in quality. In the war of 1812 he served in the Vermont Militia at the battle of Plattsburg. After attaining his majority he studied survey- ing in the office of John Johnson, Civil Engineer, at Burlington.ª
In 1816 he came westward, spending the winter of 1816-17 in Indiana. The following year he came down the Ohio, in a small flat-boat, to its mouth and thence by land to St. Louis, where he remained the following winter. Whilst here he assisted in painting the first steamboat that ever arrived at St. Louis. The following spring (1818) he came over to Illinois and made an improvement on the south-east quarter of section three, town 5, 8, though the patent by which he acquired title is dated October 20, 1823. Here he lived the remainder of his life a farmer. He married, Sep- tember 27, 1827, Jane Paddock (Richmond,) by whom he had one son, Willard Cutting, born September 16, 1829.
*The original ancestor of all families bearing the name of Flagg in this country, was probably Thomas Flegg, (the name having been so spelled for not less than eighty years after its migration) of Watertown, Massachusetts, who "came as servant of Richard Carver, from Scratby, in the hundred of East Flegg, County Norfolk, a few miles north of Yarmouth, where they embarked in 1637." His numerous descendants are found in all parts of the country, but especially abound in the region of Worcester, Massuchusetts, the names of about forty of the family appearing on the directory of that town.
So far back as the way is clear, we have the following genealogy of Gershom Flagg.
(1) EBENEZER FLAGG, of Boston, may have been the great grandson of Thomas Flegg aforesald. His children were:
Eleazer, born November 6, 1725.
William, .6
July 10, :1732.
Mary, 66 March 18, 1728. Sarah, July 18, 1733.
Gershom, June 1730. Abia, 66 January 2, 17-
(11) GERSHOM FLAGG, "settled in Lancaster, and while slating the house of the late Dr. Gardner, of Boston, fell from it and was killed." He owned a farm and a'slate quarry in Lancaster, and is described as "a spare light-complected man, straight as a candle, and a great hand for business." It appears by the town record that he was married to Mary Willard of Lancaster, December 5th, 1750, by Joseph Wilder, jr. His children were: Gershom, born April 11, 1758. Ebenezer, April 7, 1756.
Mary, April 27, 1753.
Of these three children, Gershom emigrated to Marietta, Ohio, in 1788, and there lied in 1792, leaving a family. Mary married John Baker, and remained in Mas- sachusetts.
EBENEZER FLAGG, the father of Gershom Flagg, of Madison, was a soldier dur- ing the revolution. One of his appoinments as Sergeant, dated Orange Town, August 18th, 1780, describe him as belonging to the "Colonels company of Foot, in the Tenth Massachusetts Regiment, in the service of the United States." After the war he removed to Vermont, first to Clarenden, and subsequently to Orwell, and in 1800 to Richmond, Chittenden County, where he remained practicing his profession as physician, until his death February 17th, 1828. He married Elizabeth Cutting, and had the following children :
Artemas, born Feb. 17, 1789. Lucy, Dec. 27, 1800.
Azariah C. " Nov. 28, 1790. Eliza Wait, “ Ang. 11, 1802; d Mar. 4, '4]
Gershom, Nov. 26, 1792; d Mar. 4, '57. Urana, 66 Apr. 7, 1804; deceased.
Mary Ann, Oct. 24, 1794; deceased. Willard P. “ June 8, 1808; Feb. 14, 1813; deceased.
Semanthy, .6 Nov. 22, 1796; d Mar. 31, '49 Thos. P. W. "
zeziah, 66 Aug. 7, 1798; d Nov. 16, '21
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Solon Robinson, in a letter to the Prairie Farmer in 1845, says that "Gershom Flagg, a Green Mountain boy, but not a Greenhorn, undertook to make a farm on the prairie, in Madison county, and was told by the set- tlers in the thick woods that he was crazy to think of cultivating land that was so poor it would not bear timber." In this respect, as well as in fruit culture, he was a pioneer, having planted one of the carliest commercial orchards of grafted fruit in 1822.
He was a man of somewhat eccentric character, of great integrity and good ability, and, considering his early disadvantages, of considerable acquirements.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
It was the good fortune of Madison County to be the home of, among others, a trio of Printers-HOOPER WARREN, GEORGE CHURCHILL and JOHN BAILHACHE-whose influence did much to promote the best inter- ests, not only of the county but of the State; and it is with pleasure that we give a few facts relative to their history in this connection.
HOOPER WARREN
Was a native Walpole, N. H., where he was born 1790, and a resident, for the greater part of his life until his majority, of Vermont, where he learned his trade as a printer in the office of the Rutland Herald. Mr. Warren came to Delaware in 1814, to Kentucky three years later, (work- ing with Amos Kendall,) and in 1818 to St. Louis. During the fall of 1818 he was agent of a Lumber Company of St. Louis, at Cairo, which was then without a settlement-the only resident family, (named Hutchins) occupying for a home and store, a "grounded flatboat."
In March 1819 Mr. Warren removed to Edwardsville, Illinois, and com- inenced the publication of the Edwardsville "Spectator," having for his principal friends and contributors such men as Governor Edwards, Daniel P. Cook, George Churchill, Thomas Lippincott, etc.
The only newspapers published earlier in Illinois were the Illinois Emigrant, of Shawneetown, and the Illinois Intelligencer, of Kaskaskia. The Illlinois Republican, (the fourth newspaper in the order of publica- tion,) was started at Edwardsville by Judge Smith four years after the "Spectator."
Mr. Warren edited the "Spectator" for six years, avowing his anti-slavery principles in his first;prospectus. It was the able organ of the anti-slavery men against the bold attempt, commenced in 1822 to engraft legalized slavery upon our State Constitution. The contest was one of the fiercest ever known in our State history, and it was only by a slender majority that this young commonwealth was saved from the blighting curse which thus early threatened its'promising career. Posterity will not fail to search out the standard bearers in that war of freedom; nor will the name of Hooper Warren fail of its meed of honor.
After his six years of services as editor of that journal, Mr. Warren passed a part of 1826 in Cincinnati editing the "National Crisis," when he removed the press of the "Spectator" from Edwardsville to Springfield,
42-
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at which last place the Sangamon "Spectator" was edited by him for about two years. In 1829 he removed to Galena, establishing there (joint- ly with Doctors Newhall and Philleo, ) the Galena "Advertiser and Upper Mississippi Herald," which was printed about one and a half years. In 1831 he removed to Hennepin, where for five years he filled the offices of Clerk of the Circuit Court and County Commissioners' Court, as also of Recorder and Justice of the Peace.
In 1836 he published for about a year, at Chicago, the "Commercial Advertiser," when he returned to Hennepin, and in the spring of 1839 removed his family to Henry, Illinois, where he carried on a farm. In 1850, after the death of his wife, he published at Princeton, for one year, the Bureau Advocate, when he again removed to Chicago, passing about three years there, as associate (with Zabina Eastman) of the "Free West and the Western Citizen." He then returned to his farin in Henry, where lie continued to reside until his death, which occurred while he was on a visit to Mendota, Illinois, August 22, 1864.
Such is a meagre outline of the career of one of the carlest and oldest printers of Illinois-a man of work as well as thought, who rarely had in liis busy toil, time to write, but was a genuine "compositor," his thoughts and fingers keeping time nimbly the one with the other. And it is due to the worth and public services of this good man that the press should lay a wreath of honor on his tomb.
Earnest yet calm, brave and undaunted, yet wise and just, he remained ever true and inflexible in his principles, liberal in his politics, in warm sympathy with "the people" and the "people's rights;" yet, as such, a staunch advocate of the natural rights of all men and all races, and hence the open and unflinching foe of African slavery.
Few men have passed through a long life of such labor as his with a purer record-more blameless, more respected, more trusted. His tranquil old age was not inactive; but was occasionally improved by him in writing upon past events in the history of Illinois, about which few had better information or could write more justly and more wisely. Mr. Warren was a frequent and esteemed correspondent of the Chicago Historical Society.
The sabject of this sketch lived not to see fully established that emanci- pation of the American bondmen to which his life long labors had been devoted. Like Moses, he was permitted only a Pisgah sight of the land of long promise and hope. He has passed in full age away, to join the band of faithful labors for humanity and right, who, once stigmatized as seditious and disturbers of the peace, will be forever honored as fellow- workers with God and the good, friends of their country, advocates and defenders of the oppressed. The loss is our own when such men are for- gotten in their death .*
GEORGE CHURCHILL
Was born at Hubbardton, Rutland county, Vermont, October 11, 1789.1 As soon as he was able he worked on his father's farm, and occasionally attended some one of the common schools.
In December, 1804, he was bereft of his mother by an unexpected and sudden death. In the spring of 1805 he went to a private school in Rut-
*From the Chicago Tribune.
¡His ancestors as far back as his great grandfather Samuel Churchill and his maternal grandfather Charles Boardman, it is believed, were all born at or near the town of Wethersfield, Hartford county, Connecticut. Churchill is an English name, and no doubt his distant ancestors came from England. There were some famous men of the name in England. Charles Churchill was a well-known satir- ical poet. John Churchill was created Duke of Marlborough, for his military ex- ploits, in the same way as Arthur Wellesley was afterwards created Duke of
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MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
land, taught by Samuel Walker, with whose instructions he made good progress in English Grammar and Arithmetic; and, at the end of about four months, understood as much of those sciences as enabled him to com- plete the study of them without the aid of a teacher. In the fore part of the winter of 1805-6 he studied English Composition and Geography with the Rev. Jedediah Bushnell, of Cornwall, Vt. Induced more by the love of literature than by the hope of wealth, he determined to become a prin- ter; and, in February, 1806, entered the office of the "Albany Centinel," published by Messrs. Whiting, Backus & Whiting. Having completed his apprenticeship he continued to work as a journeyman printer at Al- bany until he had money enough to purchase one half of a small printing office, another journeyman printer raising an equal sum of money for the other half, and thus they became "boss" printers. But business of all kinds became dull, and the printing business more dull than any other. Having sold out his half at a considerable loss Mr. Churchill removed to the City of New York, where he worked as a journeyman printer over five months, and then left for the West. On the way he spent some time at Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. At the latter place he arranged with a company of merchants from Connecticut, with whose leader he was ac- quainted, to take passage in their flat bottomed boat, in which their goods were transported. At Cincinnati they remained about two weeks. After a short stay at Westport, Mr. Churchill proceeded to Louisville and work- ed some time in the office of the Courier, owned by Nicholas Clarke; and afterwards in the office of the Correspondent, owned by Col. Elijah C. Berry, afterwards a well-known citizen of Illinois, and Auditor of Public Accounts for this State. On the 5th of June, 1817, he left Louisville in the keel-boat Dolphin for St. Louis. Arrived at Shawneetown on the 11th of June, where, desirous of seeing the country, he left the boat in company with Mr. Kersey Jones, of Pennsylvania, and proceeded on foot to Kas- kaskia, where they arrived on the 16th. Here they rested until the 23d when they proceeded to St. Genevieve, Mo. At 8 o'clock P. M., of June 27, 1817, he arrived in St. Louis.
A view of some of the fertile prairies of Illinois, so different from the lands on which he had formerly labored, led to a resolution to make farm- ing his permanent occupation. Having selected the north-west quarter of section eight, town three north, range seven west, he entered it at the Land Office, and now resides upon it.
In 1818, perceiving that there was a disposition, in some parts of the Territory of Illinois, to contend for the toleration of slavery, he wrote several essays in opposition to that project, which were published in the
Wellington, for a military reason. It would be difficult to decide which of them received the most eulogies from the writers of that day. Here is one which John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, received from the celebrated Joseph Addison : . " 'Twas then great Marlborough's mighty soul was proved,
That in the shock of charging hosts unmoved,
Amidst confusion, horror, and dispair,
Examined all the dreadful scenes of war :
In peaceful thought the field of death survey'd,
To fainting squadrons sent the timely aid,
Inspired repulsed battalions to engage, And taught the doubtful battle where to rage. So when an angel by divine command With rising tempests shakes a guilty land, Such as of late o're pale Britannia pass'd,
Calm and serene he drives the furious blast;
And pleased the Almighty's orders to perform,
Rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm."
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Illinois "Intelligencer," at Kaskaskia, at that time the only newspaper published in the Territory.
In order to fence and improve his farm he found it expedient to work at his old trade of printing, consequently in the winter and spring of 1819 he worked in the office of the Missouri Gazette, at St. Louis, conducted by Joseph Charless, Esq.
At that time arose the famous Missouri Question in Congress. Missouri, petitioned Congress to pass an "Enabling Act," that is, an aet authorizing the people of the Territory to elect delegates to meet in convention and form a Constitution for a State Government, with a view to its admission as a State into the Union. The bill passed the House of Representatives, with the following proviso, which was proposed by Gen. James Tallmadge, of Duchess county, N. Y. :
"And provided, That the introduction of slavery, or involuntary servi- tude, be prohibited, except for the punishment of crimes, whereof the party has been duly convicted; and that all children born within the said State after the admission thereof into the Union, shall be declared free at the age of twenty-five years."
The Senate struck out this proviso; the House refused to concur; so the bill failed to pass at that session. The action of the House of Representa- tives created great excitement in St. Louis. Three distinguished lawyers took up the pen, and filled many columns of the Gazette with their denun- ciations of the proposed restriction, and their arguments to prove its un- constitutionality. Believing that something might be said on both sides of the question, Mr. Churchill wrote an essay in support of the restriction and offered it to the editor for publication, who proposed that the author- ship should be kept secret, and wrote an introduction saying, in substance, that he did not agree with the writer, but inserted the communication in pursuance of his uniform practice of keeping his paper open to all parties.
The appearance of this publication caused fresh excitement. Sundry gentlemen told the editor that such articles would certainly ruin the coun- try; and they threatened to stop taking the Gazette if it contained any more articles of that sort. The editor was immovable; and some of the slavo gentry stopped their papers; but the loss was more than made up by new subscribers. Mr. Churchill continued to write on the subject occa- sionally during the months of April, May and June, 1819. His essays were signed "A Farmer of St. Charles Connty." The writers for the Ga- zette, in opposition to the restriction, adopted the signatures of "Sydney," "Hampden," and "A Missourian." Col. Benton, who edited the St. Louis Enquirer, was more violent than the writers for the Gazette; and they were all sorely vexed because they could not find out the name of the "Farmer." Mr. C. was not alone in defending the restriction in the col- umns of the Gazette. Another gentleman with whom he had no acquaint- ance contributed four essays under the name of "Pacificus," written in a temperate, inoffensive style, and abounding in masterly and convincing arguments.
Mr. Hooper Warren having established the "Edwardsville Spectator," at the County Seat of Madison County. Illinois, Mr. Churchill acceded to his request to assist him in the capacity of journeyman printer. He was convinced that Mr. Warren was inflexibly opposed to slavery, and was a good printer; and therefore he assisted in giving his paper a start. While he continued with Mr. Warren, and afterwards, Mr. Churchill wrote sev- eral communications for the Spectator.
In 1822 he was elected a member of the House of Representatives from Madison county. This county, which hitherto had extended to the north- ern boundary of the State, had been greatly reduced by the creation of Sangamon, Greene and Pike counties. The succeeding session of the Leg- islature was distinguished by the attempt to call a Convention to amend our Constitution, with a view of admitting slavery into Illinois. At the election in 1824 the Anti-Convention candidates for seats in the House of Representatives were elected by an average majority of 147. Mr. Churchill was one of the successful candidates, and was re-elected in 1826, 1828 and
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1830. And in 1838 he was nominated as a candidate for a seat in the State Senate for a term of four years, and was elected. In 1844 he was again elected a member of the House of Representatives of Illinois for two years. Thus he has been a member of the State Senate four years, and of the House of Representatives twelve years-in all sixteen years. In March, 1833, he was appointed by Posmaster-General W. T. Barry, Postmaster at Ridge Prairie in this county, a trust he continued to hold for nine or ten years.
As the winter of age advances he is more and more inclined to seek re- tirement. On the old homestead which he adopted in this county over forty-eight years ago, Mr. Churchill still resides, one of the few remaining of those noble Pioneers who labored efficiently in securing the founda- tion of that substantial prosperity enjoyed so abundantly by the citizens of Illinois.
JOHN BAILHACHE.
From the Presbyterian Reporter for September, 1857, we make the fol- lowing extract: "With the sincerest sorrow we record the death of this venerated man.
On Tuesday, Sept. 2, instant, while riding with some friends near Alton city School-house No. 1, he was so seriously injured by the overturning of the carriage down a steep bank that he died the next day, at 4 o'clock, P. M., about twenty-four hours after the accident. On Friday, the 4th instant, he was buried from the Protestant Episcopal Church.
For several years we have been so intimately associated with Judge Bailhache, so well knew his worth, and so highly respected him, that our own feelings demand some tribute to his memory. The same demand is made by the public position he has so long occupied, by his age, and by the high esteem with which he was universally regarded.
In 1855 he drew up a Brief Sketch of his life and editorial career, at the request of his children and for their use. This valuable document we have read with the deepest interest; and from it we take the following facts in his somewhat eventful life.
He was born in St Ouen, the westernmost Parish of Jersey-the largest of the Norman Isles in the British Channel-on the 8th of May, 1787.
His father bore the same name as himself, and that was the name of the eldest son in the family for many preceding generations. His father died in January 1800, and the son says of him: "He was a devout and consistent member of the Church of England; and I may truly say of him that a more upright and benevolent inan, or one more generally be- loved was not to be found on the whole Island."
The maiden name of his mother was Mary De La Perrelle. He says of her-"In all respects she may justly be considered a superior woman. Left a widow with six small children-the eldest myself, under thirteen years of age, the youngest an infant at the breast-and but a small patri- mony, she succeeded by her admirable management, raising her children reputably, and giving all of them a pretty good education, not only with- out impairing the capital left by my father, but on the contrary adding to its value." She died in 1847, aged eighty-five years.
In infancy his health was extremely delicate, and all his friends predic- ed for him a premature death. He possessed a remarkable aptitude for learning, and could not remember the time in which he could not read with fluency, or when he learned the rudiments of Arithmetic. From thirteen to sixteen years of age he attended an Academy, near his pater- nal home, in which he learned the English language, (the French was his
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mother tongue,) and made some proficiency in Latin and Greek. During the next five years of his life he served an apprenticeship to the printing business, receiving as compensation for his services board and lodging and ten pounds sterling at the expiration of the term.
At the request of Rev. Peter Sarchet, sen .- who had children settled in this country-he accompanied him to the United States in 1810, reaching Cambridge, Ohio, the latter part of September.
After an unsuccessful attempt to establish himself in other business, he become half proprietor of the "Fredonian," a Republican paper published at Chillicothe, and made his debut as Editor and Publisher, August 30th, 1812. That first number contained the official account of the capitulation of Detroit.
Soon after this he made the acquaintance of Gen. Harrison, who passed throught Chillicothe on his way to take command of the Northwestern army. His partner in business, Mr. Richardson, accompanied the Gen. eral to the wars. Before many months Mr. Bailhache purchased his inter- est in the "Fredonian," and thus become sole proprietor of the paper.
In Augast, 1815, he purchased "The Scioto Gazette," a Federal paper published in the same city, and united it with his own. The consolidated paper bore the name of "The Scioto Gazette and Freedonian Chronicle."
He was married, December 24th, 1816, to Elizabeth Harwood, third daughter of Rev. William Heath, of Lynchburg, Virginia. She lived until July 1, 1849, when she died at Alton, of cholera, in the fifty-second year of her age.
The children of this marriage were ten in number, all but three of whom died young. William Henry, Preston Heath, and Arthur Lee, still survive. A daughter, Sarah Ann, lived to be four and a half years of age. Her death seems to have been most bitterly lamented by the strick- en parents; and led subsequently to the adoption of a daughter of Judge Bailhache's brother, Mary Elizabeth. She proved herself a worthy sister and daughter, and survives to lament with bitter tears her beloved foster father.
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