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Tracing an English influence in Southeast Illinois
By Bill Keefe

The idea that he might lead Englishmen in substantial numbers to uproot their families and move to the rough-hewn American frontier became an obsession with Morris Birkbeck, 53, a resident of Surrey County. The year was 1814, and as a tenant farmer in England, Birkbeck was not allowed to vote. He lived in a place where, he noted, there was no economic status in between that of being rich and being poor. His dream was to create “a flourishing, public-spirited, energetic community, where the insolence of wealth, and the servility of pauperism” would not exist, he wrote.

During a trip through France, Birkbeck discussed the concept of by-passing existing towns on the eastern frontier and establishing a totally English colony with George Flower, 26.

Signing up as a co-colonist, Flower agreed to Mr. Birkbeck’s basic conditions: they would not establish a colony in slave territory, would not settle east of the Alleghenies – to avoid the extremes of heat and cold that they believed prevailed there – and would sell land only to families of hard-working English stock.

The son of a prosperous landowner, Flower made an exploratory trip to the United States in 1816-17.

Joined in May, 1817, by Mr. Birkbeck and his family, Flower visited the Illinois Territory and spent the winter with Thomas Jefferson at Monticello. Flower led the way west while Birkbeck filled in the details of their grand plan.

Traveling farther and farther west, the partners tested land prices and conditions in Ohio, Indiana and then Illinois. In early August they chose sections of prairieland some 45 miles north of Shawneetown, a port settlement on the Ohio River.

The great adventure that became known as the Illinois English Prairie got its start when each partner bought 1,440 acres of land, paying $2.00 an acre. Each planned, in time, to buy 23,000 more.

Birkbeck wrote and published a book, “Notes on a Journey in America.” In it, he spoke of the men’s "two adjoining estates . . . carved from a beautiful prairie," noting that "We are preparing to raise buildings" and "are providing for gardens and orchards . . ."

The book appeared early in 1818, almost at once inspiring the formation of two groups of immigrants planning to buy land from the settlers on the English Prairie.

Overwhelmed when two groups of about 45 people each arrived at his farm, Mr. Birkbeck accelerated the preparations he had already begun. The hungry travelers had journied down the Ohio River by barge, come upstream on the Wabash to Shawneetown, then taken wagons overland 100 miles to what is now Edwards County.

Birkbeck secured food and supplies from Harmony, Indiana. Harmony itself grew into an experimental utopian community where Robert Owen's ambition was to create a more perfect society through free education and the abolition of social classes and personal wealth. He introduced vocational education, kindergarten and other educational reforms.

Birkbeck went to work adding living quarters to a square of rough cabins that he had built. The cabins, which accommodated all of the 88 male arrivals, became known as "the barracks."

Along with his early writing describing life in Illinois Territory, Birkbeck went on to write anti-slavery essays in newspapers under the pseudonym of Jonathan Freeman. He believed in equality and freedom, fighting against the proslavery Illinois Senate.

Mysterious parting

An even greater emergency faced a group of more than 60 immigrants that arrived with George Flower, who had made a trip back to England. Arriving at a rough homestead, and finding that little had been done to accommodate newcomers to his property, Flower threw himself into the formidable task of providing shelter, food and other necessities.

By degrees the initial problems of food and lodging were resolved, and the immigrants were able to provide for their own needs.

But when he attempted to meet with Mr. Birkbeck in order to set plans for the future, Mr. Flower met a harsh rebuff. "The older man informed [Mr. Flower] curtly that all relations between them were at an end, that they could not see each other again, and refused to make any explanation," as historian Paul Angle writes.

What drove the two friends apart is one of history’s mysteries.

According to Flower’s journal, in the spring of 1817, he had met Morris Birkbeck in Richmond, Va., and conducted the initial party of settlers to Edwards County, Illinois. The travelers included Miss Eliza Julia Andrews, age 25. After a stop in Cincinnati, Ohio, for supplies, the party was joined by the registar of the land office at Shawneetown, Illinois Territory, who guided the group to the residence of General Harrison, and across Indiana to Illinois.

During the journey both he and Morris Birkbeck fell in love with Miss Andrews, wrote Flower. A feud began that resulted in Flower’s victory.
Stopping at Vincennes, Ind., in 1817, George Flower married Miss Andrews (the marriage was not legal until March 3, 1836, when the Illinois Legislature issued a “Bill of Divorcement” for George Flower from his first wife).

Some historians speculate that Mr. Birkbeck’s wrath had something to do with the same. Others, that the dispute was financial. At any rate, the idealistic English Prairie project had foundered on grounds of personal issues.

Acting on his own, Birkbeck formally established the village of Wanborough in August, 1818. A historical review notes that "The town grew rapidly at first and at one time had a population of 150 as compared to 30 for Albion."

Later trends changed the equation. Laid out in blocks by Flower in October 1818, Albion became the county seat of Edwards County on April 10, 1821. In subsequent years Albion prospered while Wanborough slowly faded as a population center.

Increasingly, the immigrants arriving at both towns represented various countries of Europe and many parts of the United States. Within 20 to 30 years the English Prairie had lost its oh-so-British identity.

An Immigrant’s Impression

Gentleman farmer John Woods was one of the early immigrants to Wanborough. When he saw the sprawling tract called the English Prairie, the burden of his five-month, nearly 4,000-mile journey from England seemed to lift.

"We . . .entered the English Prairie towards the east corner," Mr. Woods writes in his 1822 memoir, “Two Years’ Residence on the English Prairie of Illinois.”

"Here we had a fine view towards the south-west and north-west, and it was extremely pleasant to see so much open land, with a few trees scattered over it."

Mr. Woods had brought his family, intending to settle. Within days after his arrival in late September, 1819, he had purchased a functioning farm, 160 acres, that came with two cabins and a stable for livestock as well as viable crops of cotton, "Indian corn" and other staples. He extended his landowner’s interest in this fertile region of Illinois Territory by quickly investing in another 162 acres of "mostly prairie" land.
He bought this land for nine hundred and forty dollars, writing:

“My purchase included on the land two cabins, a stable, a well partly dug, nine acres of Indian corn, from which I had upwards of four hundred bushels; more than three hundred bushels of pompions; a small quantity of cotton; some shalots, and some small beans, much like French beans. The live stock consisted of three cows, three calves, three sheep, upwards of thirty pigs, and a considerable deal of poultry; I afterwards bought . . . a heifer for four dollars.

Thrifty, hard-working and resolute, Mr. Woods soon found life in Birkbeck’s Wanborough at least adequately profitable and rewarding. Of the crops he chose to plant and nurture, he judged Indian corn to be the "most important item in this country’s growth." The 12 acres that he planted to corn amazed him by producing stalks "upwards of 12 feet high."

Estimating the dimensions of the English Prairie, Mr. Woods notes, "It may . . .be five miles by four, but of a very irregular figure, and may contain 16 square miles . . . about 10,000 acres." Coarse grasses covered much of the prairie. Made into hay, it provided fodder for farm animals during the winters.

By 1821 Mr. Woods was bringing his detailed descriptions of the land, its products and farm life to a planned close. He could note that "our country is settling pretty fast."

The neighboring community of Albion, two miles away, had become the county seat of Edwards County, encompassing the English Prairie.
One dark sign had appeared on the settlement’s horizon, writes Woods. The two men, once close friends, who had founded Wanborough and Albion had quarreled, with the result that "a much worse name" has been given "to the settlement . . . than it really deserves.”

Mrs. Lois Goodson, local historian and vice-president of the Edwards County Historical Society, says that the English Prairie not only put the Illinois Territory "on the map," but also "gave impetus to movements toward civic improvement and development.

"The village already had the Market House, on Courthouse Square, which served as Illinois’ first public library, starting in 1819," she says.
"We have a population of about 2,000 souls today. With our historic background, it’s not likely that we’ll ever forget what the English Prairie did to get us started."