ALEXANDER COUNTY HISTORY
ILLINOIS GENEALOGY TRAILS
Post Offices--Past and Present
In 1816 the settlement of Trinty was established just below the mouth of the Cache River. America was laid out in 1818 by James Riddle, Henry Bechtle and Thomas Sloo and Stephen and Henry Rector. William M. Alexander was an agent and physician of great eminence. The county is named after Dr. Alexander. Dr. Alexander represented Pope County in the Legislature from 1820-1822 and Alexander County from 1922-24 when he was Speaker of the House.
The legislative act under which Alexander County was created was entitled, "An act forming the detached part of Union County into a separate county" and was approved March 4, 1819. America became the first county seat. It was located on the Ohio River and was laid out in 1818. The county seat was removed to near the center of the county in 1833 to a place called Unity, where it remained until the county was divided and Pulaski County was formed. Unity was the second county seat from 1833-1845. Thebes was county seat from 1846-1859 and Cairo from 1859 to the present. The court house in Cairo was completed in 1865. --Source: Excerpts from HISTORY OF ALEXANDER, UNION AND PULASKI COUNTIES, Edited by William Henry Perrin, Chicago: O. L. Baskin and Company, Historical Publisher, 183 Lake Street, 1883.
Alexander County, the extreme southern county of the State, being bounded on the west by the Mississippi, and south and east by the Ohio and Cache Rivers. Its area is about 230 square miles and its population in 1890 was 16, 563. The first American settlers were Tennesseeans named Bird, who occupied the delta and gave it the name of Bird's Point, which at the date of the Civil War (1861-65), had been transferred to the Missouri shore opposite the mouth of the Ohio. Other early settlers were Clark, Kennedy and Philips (at Mounds), Conyer and Terrel (at America), and Humphreys (near Caledonia). In 1818 Shadrach Bond (afterwards Governor), John G. Comyges and others entered a claim for 1800 acres in the central and northern part of the county, and incorporated the "City and Bank of Cairo." In 1818 (on Comyges' death) the land reverted to the Government; but in 1835 Sidney Breese, David J. Baker and Miles A. Gilbert re-entered the forfeited bank tract and the title thereto became vested in the "Cairo City and Canal Company," which was chartered in 1837, and by purchase, extended its holdings to 10,000 acres. The county was organized in 1819; the first county-seat being America, which was incorporated in 1820. Population 1900, 19,384. --Source: Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois, Chicago: Munsell Publishing Company, 1909, p.14.
1829--David H. Moore/James S.
Smith
1830--Wilson Able
1832--Franklin Hughes
1834--Solomon Parker
1836--Solomon Parker/Joshua McRaven
1837--Joshua McRaven/Jesse J. McLenden
1839--J. J. McLenden
1845--Alexander W. Anderson
1848--Green Massey
1851--Coventry Cully
1852--William C. Massey
1853--James L. Brown
1857--C. C. Cole
1858--N. Hunsaker
1860--John Hodges
1863--O. Greenlee
1864--Charles D. Arter
1872-74--A. H. Irvin
1878-1882--John Hodges
1911--A. S. Fraser
| The Alexander county farm is located about two miles from Beech
Ridge. The farm contains about five hundred and eighty acres, but only
one hundred and eighty acres are profitable for farming. Enough
vegetables are usually produced to supply the inmates, but there is
no fruit on the place, save apples. The residence building is a one and
half story frame structure, without a basement. The inmates' building
is a two story frame building,- without a basement. The length, of
this latter and larger building, extends east and west so that each
room has either a northern or southern window. The rooms on the north
are very gloomy and very cold in the winter as there is no stove in the
building except in the kitchen and the sitting room, which are at the
extreme east and west ends of the house. The rough, old floors, with
large cracks between the boards, and the loose plastering, render the
house extremely uncomfortable. At the time of inspection, the windows
were very dirty and the walls were grimy. The floors were fairly clean
but a part of the mattresses and some of the bedding were very dirty.
As there are but nine inmates at present the second floor is not being
used. Three of the inmates are colored and five, white. Only
two inmates are able to do anything about the farm; both of them have
very weak eyes. Men and women eat in the same dining room. There is
but one crippled woman at present; she may lock her door whenever she
wishes to. Insane, crippled, feeble-minded and aged, inmates share
the same conditions. There is no bath tub which can be used. They have
no light at night and their clothing is very ragged and patched. There
are no rocking chairs in the place. The men sit in their stiff, old,
broken chairs all day long, with nothing to do. None of them are able
to read. Additional information and census provided by Paula Haas and Janice Rice
William J. Childers was born
October 1852 in Proctor Township, Crittenden County, Arkansas. He died
October 10, 1915 in Cache, Alexander County, Illinois. He is
buried at Diswood Cemetery. He married Mary E. Miller, February
2, 1873, by C. B. Sullivan, Minister of the Gospel.
1900 Federal Census--Goose Island--Alexander County, Illinois
Childers, Wm. J., head, white, male, born Oct 1852; age 47; md. 26y; place of birth: AR; Place of birth-father: TN; place of birth-mother: MS; farmer; rent. Childers, Mary E., wife Childers, Harry F., son Childers, Mattie E., daughter Childers, Ella A., daughter Childers, Vida A., daughter Childers, Wm. S., son Childers, Gertie J., daugher Childers, Vergie E., daughter William and his family lived at Cache, Illinois, where he was the caretaker of the Alexander County Farm, better known as the "Poor Farm." 1910 Federal Census--Beech Ridge--Alexander County--April 25, 1910. Farm Labor Home Childers, Wm. J., head, b. 1852 AR; Father b. TN; Mother b. AL Childers, Mary E., wife, b. 1833 IL; Father b. NC; Mother b. NC Childers, Gertrude, daughter, age 15, b. IL; Father b. AR; Mother b. IL Raina, Beck (Ronnebeck), (John), head, age 24; m-w-md1-0 Raina (Ronnebeck), Vida, wife, age 23; md1-0. Burkhart, Sarah-pauper-F-W-58-md.1-wd-IL. Chism, Maude-pauper-F-W-33-single-1 child-b. IL. Pirtes, James-pauper-M-Mulatto-40-single-b. IL. Darnels, Jeff-pauper-m-black-44-single-b. IL. Hudyeation, Joe-pauper-M-W-52-S-England. Malander, Wm-pauper-M-W-53-S-VA Brown, Grant-pauper-m-w-42-m1-IL. Brooke, Lula-pauper-f-w-49-wd-0-0-US Lire, Harry-pauper-m-b-23-s-MO. Clark, John-pauper-m-w-51-s-IL. Johnson, Charley-pauper-m-w-60-s-Germany. Mullins, Guss-pauper-m-w-30-s-LA. (Note: The Poor Farm was located just north and west of the intersection of Route 3 and Route 127.) |
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Anna Newell, Illinois Genealogy Trails
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