CHAPTER I.
Pg. 1

Before It Was A County

     There was 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 northern boundary of the county protects it from the storms from teh north in the 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 the 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 on 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.  Indians so ruthlessly massacred the white people who settled there.
     Some of the earliest settles 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 Feb. 10, 1763, the territory had become English.  After the United States was organized 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

     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.  z
     Peace treaties with the Indians and transfer of titles of their land to the United States government and the end of the War of 1812 with Great Britain opened wide the Illinois doors for settlement.
     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, who appointed a governor of Illinois territory, were Randolph and St. Clair counties. These counties surrounded the settlements of Kaskaskia and Cahokia.  Sept. 14th, 1812, Governor Edwards created by proclamation Madison, Johnson and Gallatin counties.  In anticipation of statehood, the legislature created Washington, Franklin and Union counties.  Between 1812 and 1817, Edwards, White, Monroe, Pope, Jackson, Bond and Crawford counties were created, making fifteen counties in all.  There were two members sent to the Legislature from the northern counties and two from the southern.  John Grammer represented the southernmost counties.
     In 1803 the first white settlement was made in Union County.  It consisted of 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 is 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 were his nearest neighbors.  Jacob Lingle settled west of Cobden in 1807 and George Evans and John Bradshaw on Bradshaw Creek.  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.  Robert Hargrave and Jessie Echols, who was later appointed to fix the seat 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, Alexander Boren, Hosea Boren, Richard McBride, Thomas Green, Emanuel Penrod, George Hunsaker, George Smiley, David Kimmel, John Whitaker, David Corother, 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 Hunsaker, 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 Hansin, Isaac Vancil, R. W. Crafton, John Cruse, James Jackson, George Smiley, Joseph Palmer, George James, Robert Hargrave, John Hunsaker, John Whitaker, Johnson Somers, Charles Dougherty, Joel Boggess, Jones, Vancil, Emanuel Penrod, John Stokes, Samuel Penrod, Cliff Hazlewood and John Kimmel.
     Those who had entered land that lies within the county up to and including 1818 were John Yost, Wilkinson Goodwin, George Hunsaker, William Thornton, John Hunsaker, John Miller, George Lawrence, Henry Clutts, Christian Miller, James Mesam, John Harriston, John Kimmell, John Frick, Edmond Holeman, Adam Clapp, George Devolt, Michael Dillon, John Grammer, Benjamin Menees, Michael Holhauser, John Hartline, Anthony Lingle, John Whitaker, Phillip Shaver, Phillip Paulus, William Worthington, John Bradshaw, John Saunders, John R. McFarland, John Tyler, Joseph Waller, Joseph Walker, A. Cokenower, Andrew Irwin, Giles Parmelia, Samuel Butcher, Samuel Penrod, Robert W. Crafton, Edward Vancil, John Gregory, Jaboc Lingle, Israel Thompson, Adam Cauble, Jacob Rendleman, Jacob Weigle, George Wolf, Michael Lindgaugh, Jonathan Haskey, Joseph Barber, Last Cape, John Cape, Isaac Biggs, Alexander Biggs, the Meisenheimers, John Eddleman, Thomas McIntosh, Cornelius Anderson, David Lence, Benedict Mull, Peter Casper, John Worten, Anthony Lingle, David Crise, William Morrison, Jacob Hileman, David Miller, A. Cruse, Abraham Brown, John Knupp, Andrew Smith, David Meisenheimer, Joseph Smith, Thomas H. Harris, Ricahrd McBride, S. Lewis, Thomas Green, Benjamin J. Harris, Jacob Trees, Joseph Palmer, Thomas Green, David Kimmel, Alexander P. Field, Anthony Morgan, James Ellis, Joseph McElhaney, Abner Field, Thomas Deen, Rice Sams, Daniel Spence, William Craigle, George Cripe, Isaac Cornell, Nicholas Wilson, Henry Bechtle, Thomas Bechtle, Thomas Lanes, John Uri, Stephen Donahue, Jacob Littleton and S. W. Smith.
     From the best estimation obtainable it is believed that the population of Union County when Illinois became a state was 1800, one third of them freeholders.  Most of them were from Kentucky and Tennessee or from Pennsylvania south along the eastern coast states since the Ohio and Cache Rivers were the lanes of travel at that time.