History of Union County

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by  Leonard, Lulu

m

Lulu Leonard
Author of the
HISTORY
of
UNION COUNTY
Dies at 105
Tilman Maims died at the home of his son, Andrew, in Anna
pring and was nearly 106 years old. Tilman was 24 years old
when Lincoln and Douglas held their famous debate in Jonesboro
and he served in the Union Army during the Civil War.
This picture was taken by a Gazette-Democrat photographer
on his 105th birthday.
CHAPTER
t
BEFORE IT WAS A COUNTY
There is much conjecture among archeologists as to who the
first inhabitants of Union County were. It is reasonable to believe
that a civilization existed here long before history keeps a record of
the first white settlers.
The rolling country and the spur of the Ozark Mountains in
the northern and western parts of the country were covered by a
dense forest full of wild game which flourished because of the
plentiful water supply from springs. The watershed along the north-
ern boundary of the county protects it from the storms from the
north in winter and allows a longer growing season than would be
possible if the land were not so protected.
It is doubtful that Joliet and Marquette set foot on the soil of
Union County, but in the spring of 1673 they did pass down the
Mississippi River, which bounds the county on the west. At that
time a French mission and trading post was established at Kaskaskia
and five years later at Cahokia but it is doubtful that any of the
French traders, hunters or trappers ever ventured as far away from
these settlements as Union County. The nearest settlement en the
Ohio River was Fort Massac, established in 1711. For a number of
years this settlement was known as Fort Massacre because the
Indians so ruthlessly massacred the white people who settled there.
Some of the earliest settlers fled into Union County from these
attacks of the Indians.
Little immigration came into Illinois before 1812 because of
the Indians and the inability of the settlers to gain legal title to
land upon which they located. As a result of the treaty ending the
war between England and France, signed February 10, 1763, the
territory had become English. After the United States wars organ-
ized the old French settlers encountered difficulty when they tried,
under American law, to have their titles ratified. In 1791, Congress
enacted a law providing that Americans who had occupied their
lands before 1783 should have their titles confirmed. Each person
was allowed title to from four hundred to eighteen hundred acres
of land. After that date, land was granted in tracts of not less
than four thousand acres.
Peace treaties with the Indians and transfer of titles of their * a? ,
land to the United States government and the end of the War of
1812 with Great Britain opened wide the Illinois doors for settle-
ment. In 1810, the white population of Illinois was 12,282 and in
1820 was 55,162. Land was sold to settlers at the rate of one dollar
and twenty-five cents per acre. The original counties existing in
Illinois when it came under the rule of the governor of Virginia,
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who appointed a governor of Illinois territory, were
Randolph and St. Clair counties. These counties surrounded the
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•lements of Ka-ka-kia and Cahokia. September 14th, 1812, Gov-
BOr Edwards created by proclamation Madison, Johnson and Gal-
latin counties. In anticipation of statehood, the legislature created
iklin and Union counties. Between 1812 and 1817,
Edwards, White, Monroe, Pope, Jackson, Bond and Crawford coun-
-e created, making fifteen counties in all. There were two
:.t to the Legislature from the northern counties and two
m the southern. John Grammer represented the southernmost
tour.'
In 1803 the first white settlement was made in Union County.
It c <»f two families, Abram Hunsaker's and George Wolf's.
In 1805, David Green came with his little family and built his little
cabin in the Mississippi bottom about one-half mile north of what
known as Big Barn. He was a river navigator from Virginia and
came upon the spot where he settled his family in some of his early
trips. It was a long time before he knew the Hunsakers and Wolfs
wore his nearest neighbors. Jacob Lingle settled west of Cobden in
807 and George Evans and John Bradshaw on Bradshaw Creek.
1
In 1808 John McGinnis settled near Mt. Pleasant. In 1809 John
Stokes. William Gwinn and Thomas Standard came to live
in what has long been known as the Stokes settlement. Rob-
• Hargrave and Jessie Echols, who was later appointed to fix the
of justice in Union County, came the same year. In 1812,
Thomas D. Patterson, Phillip Shaver, Adam Clapp and Edward
Vancil settled. The arrivals in 1814 were John Lawrence, John
Harriston, John Whittaker, A. Cokenowen, Giles Parmelia, Samuel
Butcher, Robert W. Crafton, Jacob Wolf, Michael Lindbaugh, Alex-
ander Boren, Hosea Boren, Richard McBride, Thomas Green, Eman-
uel Penroa, George Hunsaker, George Smiley, David Kimmel, John
Whitaker, David Cother, David Brown, Alexander Brown, Alexander
Boggs, David F. Coleman, Benjamin Menees and Jacob Littleton.
These settlers came from Virginia and the Carolinas and a few
from Pennsylvania. They came down the Ohio, some crossing the
river at Shawneetown and some coming via Fort Massac.
The record of "marks and brands," opened immediately after
the county was organized, shows the following men lived in Union
County and registered a "brand" for his domestic animals, Jacob
Wolf, George Wolf, Edmund Vancil, William Dodd, Samuel Hun-
saker, Michael Lindbaugh, David Brown, William Thornton, Joseph
Hunsaker, William Pyle, William Grammer, Rice Sams, Abram
Hunsaker, Thomas Sams, Benjamin Menees, John Mcintosh, George
Hunsaker, James Brown, Jeremiah Brown, John Weigle, Christopher
Sansin, Isaac Vancil, R. W. Crafton, John Cruse, James Jackson,
George Smiley, Joseph Palmer, George James, Robert Hargrave,
John Hargrave, John Hunsaker, John Whitaker, Johnson Somers,
Charles Dougherty, Joel Boggess, Jones Vancil, Emanuel Penrod,
John Stoke-, Samuel Penrod, Cliff Hazlewood and John Kimmel.
Those who had entered land that lies within the county up to
and including ISIS were John Yost, Wilkinson Goodwin, George