Tazewell County, IL Genealogy Trails
By: James M. Richmond and Richard W. Baker, ©Oct. 2003

Biographies
†Baker Cemetery†

Belle V. Allen,

Belle V. Johnson, daughter of John Henry and Martha Olivia [McCorkle] Johnson and wife of Rev. John W. Allen, pastor of Western Avenue Christian Church of Chicago, was born on the 20th of February 1843 and departed this world two days after Christmas 1868, nearly two months short of her 26th birthday. She lived on this earth twenty-five years, ten months and seven days.
Her father was a native of Ohio, and a charter member and elder of the Christian Church of Washington, Illinois. She had seven siblings: Eliza Jane Johnson, George Milton Johnson [who married Carrie Isabel Small], Rev. B. W. Johnson [editor of the St. Louis Christian Evangelist], Rev. R.H. Johnson [Professor and President of Oskaloosa College in Iowa, who married Susan S. Smith, a native of Bridgewater, VT], Rev. J. B. Johnson [pastor of the Christian Church at Lincoln, Neb], Mary E. Johnson [who married James Holland of Washington] and an infant brother or sister who was also buried in the Baker Cemetery.
Her grandparents were Henry and Elizabeth Johnson and the Rev. Richard Blythe McCorkle and his wife Isabella C. [Campbell] McCorkle.

By: James M. Richmond, ©October 2003

Baker

The four Baker children buried in the Baker Cemetery are children of Squire and Elizabeth Clark Baker who brought their family from Campbell County, Kentucky to Tazewell County, Illinois about 1838. Squire Baker was born August 8, 1813 in Campbell Co., Kentucky, the first son of Nicholas and Susannah Carll Baker.

Nicholas and Susannah Baker began their family move to Illinois with Squire and Elizabeth and completed it after they sold their farm in Kentucky in 1853 and moved to Tazewell to live near by their children, Squire, Thomas A. and Sarah Thomas in Washington Township, Tazewell Co., Illinois. Their daughter Susan married Davis Van Meter in Tazewell County January 24, 1856.

With the consent of Elizabeth’s mother Catherine, Squire and Elizabeth were married in Campbell County, Kentucky, March 29, 1836. Squire was a farmer. He died April 29, 1891 and Elizabeth died February 7, 1911.
Both are buried in Glendale Cemetery in Washington Twp., Tazewell County, Illinois. Ten children, thirty-two grandchildren, twenty-four great grandchildren and one great, great grandchild, survived Elizabeth, as stated in her obituary.

Squire and Elizabeth had fifteen children. Four are buried in the Baker Cemetery and identified
as children of S & E Baker:

Nichols (Nicholas) Baker died on August 12, 1842, ten days after his brother Thomas.
He was three years, eight months, and nineteen days of age at his death.
Thomas C. Baker died on August 2, 1842, ten days before his brother Nichols.
Mable Baker died on May 29, 1853.
Charles Baker died on May 20, 1857 at the age of five months and two days.

By: Richard W. Baker, ©October 2003

Thomas

James Thomas and two of his children are buried in the Baker Cemetery. James Thomas was born November 17, 1810 in Ohio, the son of Abraham and Margaret Thomas. James died February 9, 1877. James Thomas married Sarah Baker, Squire Baker’s sister, in Campbell County, Kentucky September 19, 1835.
James and Sarah Baker Thomas came to Tazewell County with or soon after Squire and Elizabeth Baker.
James was a cooper.

James and Sarah had ten children, two of whom are also buried in the Baker Cemetery.

Thomas, James – died Feb 9, 1877 age: 66 yr 2 mo 22 da
Thomas, Thomas J. [a twin of Susan] – died Aug 2, 1842 age 4 yr 2 mo 2 da
Thomas, William J. – died (unable to make out dates)

There was also another Thomas child, Thomas J. Thomas, who was the son of G. & S. Thomas.
He died on the 3rd of August 1851, at the age of 2 years, one month, and three days.

By: Richard W. Baker, ©October 2003

James H. Holland,

James Harrison Holland was born in Washington, Tazewell County on 23 August 1840 to parents William Holland, a native of Lincoln County, North Carolina, and Jane Wilson [Cowden] Holland, a native of Fayette County, Pennsylvania. The latter were married in Washington, Tazewell County, Illinois on the 31st of March 1833.

William Holland was the first settler in Washington and arrived in the Spring of 1825 from Peoria, where he lived the previous five years, and located in what became known as “Holland’s Grove”. He built the first gristmill in the area in 1827 and constructed a school, which measured sixteen feet by eighteen feet, from logs the same year. The school operated only during the winter months. Later he was also the owner/proprietor of a blacksmith shop and gun repair shop, which served the pioneers of the area and the Native Americans who resided nearby. In 1829 William Holland became a justice of the peace.

James Harrison Holland was the one of seven full siblings. They were: Maria Holland [who died as an infant], Philura Holland [who married Francis W. Wright] and Jane Susanna Holland [who married Henry Cook]. Ester Ann Holland [who married John Weeks], John Allen Holland, and Isaac Holland [who married Mary Lewis]. His father had fourteen other children from a previous marriage to Lavisa Best, also a native of Lincoln County, North Carolina.

On the 2nd of April 1869 James Harrison Holland married in Washington, Illinois, Mary E. Johnson, daughter of John Henry Johnson and Martha Olivia [McCorkle] Johnson. They had two children, William Holland and Anna or Alda Holland. Both are also buried in the Baker Cemetery.

James Harrison Holland was a private in Company B, of the Illinois 47th Infantry Regiment during the Civil War. The Unit mustered in at Peoria on the 16th of August 1863 and participated in campaigns up and down the Mississippi River, including the siege of Vicksburg and the battle of Mobile Bay at Spanish Fort. The Unit was mustered out on the 21st of January 1866 at Selma, Alabama and ordered to Springfield, Illinois where final pays were dispersed.

James Harrison Holland passed away on the 4th of December 1879, at the age of thirty-nine years, three months, and twelve days.

By: James M. Richmond, ©October 2003

Susannah Huddleston,

Susannah Huddleston was born in Indiana on the 10th of February 1828 and died on the 10th of September 1875,
at the age of forty-seven years and seven months. She was buried in the Baker Cemetery of Washington, Illinois.

By: James M. Richmond, ©October 2003

Johnson

John Johnson,

John Johnson, born 18 July 1805, died 30 September 1887

John Henry Johnson, son of Henry and Elizabeth Johnson, was born on the 18th of July 1805 in Hamilton, Ohio, just north of Cincinnati. Prior to his arrival in Washington, he lived in Schuyler County, Illinois. He became a successful pioneer farmer in the Washington, Illinois area and purchased on December 1, 1830, two eighty-acre farms: the first, the eastern half of the Southeast Quarter of Section Five in Township 24 N, Range 4W and the second, the East Half of the Northeast Quarter of Section Eight of the same township.

He married Martha Olivia McCorkle, the eldest daughter of Rev. Richard Blythe McCorkle, the minister of the Christian Church of Washington, Illinois, and his wife Isabella C. [Campbell] McCorkle, on the 29th of December 1831.

On the 1st of November 1838 he purchased an additional 160 acres in the Northeast Quarter of Section Fifteen in Washington Township, 26N, Range 3W from the Third Prime Meridian. About two years later on 20 May 1841 he purchased an additional eighty acres in the East Half of the Southeast Quarter Section Six in the same township.

He was a charter member and elder of the Christian Church of Washington, Illinois. He was the father of eight children, seven of whom grew to adulthood. Three of his sons became noted ministers of the Christian Church. His children were: Eliza Jane Johnson, George Milton Johnson [who married Carrie Isabel Small], Rev. B. W. Johnson [editor of the St. Louis Christian Evangelist], Rev. R.H. Johnson [Professor and President of Oskaloosa College in Iowa, who married Susan S. Smith, a native of Bridgewater, VT], Rev. J. B. Johnson [pastor of the Christian Church at Lincoln, Neb], Mary E. Johnson [who married James Holland of Washington] , Belle V. Johnson [who married Rev. John W. Allen, pastor of Western Avenue Christian Church of Chicago], and an infant who died young and is buried in the Baker Cemetery.

He passed away on September 30, 1887 at the age of eighty-two years.

By: James M. Richmond,© October 2003

Eliza Jane Johnson,

Eliza Jane Johnson was born to parents John Henry Johnson and Martha Olivia [McCorkle] Johnson on the 10th of March 1839, probably on the family farm north of Washington, Illinois.

She had seven siblings. Three of her brothers were noted ministers. They include: George Milton Johnson [who married Carrie Isabel Small], Rev. B. W. Johnson [editor of the St. Louis Christian Evangelist], Rev. R.H. Johnson [Professor and President of Oskaloosa College in Iowa, who married Susan S. Smith, a native of Bridgewater, VT], Rev. J. B. Johnson [pastor of the Christian Church at Lincoln, Neb], Mary E. Johnson [who married James Holland of Washington] , Belle V. Johnson [who married Rev. John W. Allen, pastor of Western Avenue Christian Church of Chicago], and an infant brother or sister who died young and is buried in the Baker Cemetery.

Her grandparents were Henry and Elizabeth Johnson and Rev. Richard Blythe McCorkle, founder of the Christian Church of Washington, Illinois, and his wife Isabella C. [Campbell] McCorkle. Eliza Jane did not marry and died on the 16th of August 1875 at the age of thirty-eight years, five months, and six days.

By: James M. Richmond, ©October 2003

Johnson, Infant

Little is known of this infant, other than it was buried in the Johnson plot of the Baker Cemetery.
The gravestone inscriptions are illegible.

By: James M. Richmond, ©October 2003

Amanda Kendeg,

Amanda Kendig was born on the 1st day of November 1843 of parents Tobias and Anna Kendig.
She died on the 3rd day of October 1850 and was buried in the Baker Cemetery of Washington, Illinois.

By: James M. Richmond, ©October 2003

McClure

James McClure,

At the age of seventeen James McClure was a private in the Indiana Militia in the Indian war in the autumn of 1811 at the Battle of Tippecanoe under General William Henry Harrison. This fact was disclosed on page five hundred forty three in the volume "The Past and Present of Woodford County, Illinois”.

On the 26th of September 1811 General Harrison, in command of the military force, including infantry, regulars, and militia, left their headquarters in Vincennes, on the eastern shore of the Wabash River, on the extreme western edge of the state of Indiana and began a military expedition to the north to engage a Shawnee Indian chief known as “The Prophet” and his warriors. On the morning of the 7th of November the battle took place just north of present day Lafayette, Indiana. The Indian force of 350-1000 warriors inflicted thirty-seven fatalities and one hundred fifty-one wounded on the army of General Harrison. At least thirty-eight Indians were killed. James McClure also participated in the Indian War of 1812.

James McClure was born on 24 April 1794 of unknown parents in the State of Indiana. Little is known of his siblings, although Samuel, Robert, Thomas, Charles, John, and William A. McClure were also in the Battle of Tippecanoe, and may have been brothers. Several McClure men with these given names purchased land in the 1830-1840’s in McLean and Tazewell counties.

James McClure married Mary [Polly] Campbell, daughter of Joseph Campbell and Sarah [Givens] Campbell of Lincoln County, Kentucky. They made their home in Illinois in 1816, two years before the State joined the Union. They settled in Vermilion County, Illinois, where he purchased eighty acres of land in the Western Half of the Southeast Quarter of Section Nine in Township Seventeen North, Twelve West, measured from the 2nd Prime Meridian, on the 20th of November 1826. Here their son, Samuel H. McClure was born a year later, on the 2nd of November 1827.

Within a few years the McClure’s moved west to Woodford and Tazewell counties and settled in Holland’s Grove prior to October of 1830. They were charter members of the Christian Church of Washington, founded by Rev. Richard Blythe McCorkle, husband of Mrs. McClure’s sister, Isabella [Campbell] McCorkle.

They were parents of Martha McClure [who was born in 1818 and died on the 8th of March 1838], James C. McClure [who was born on the 25th of May 1825 and died on the 14th of August 1845; he was a Corporal in the 108th Illinois Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War.], Samuel H. McClure [who was born on the 2nd of November 1827 in Vermilion County and married Missouri Meek in June of 1856], Benjamin McClure, an infant son who died in March of 1834, and another son who died in August of an unknown year.

James McClure was a Corporal in Captain Charles Dorsey’s company in Tazewell County, Illinois during the Black Hawk War of 1832.

James McClure died on June 16, 1865 at the age of 71 years, 1 month and 22 days, and was buried beside his wife in the plot of land from his farm that he donated to the Township for a cemetery.

By: James M. Richmond, ©October 2003

Mary McClure,

Mary [Polly] [Campbell] McClure was born in Lincoln County, Kentucky on February 1, 1795 to parents Joseph Campbell and Sarah Givens. Her father, Joseph Campbell, was a Virginia line Revolutionary soldier, from Augusta County, Virginia.

Her siblings include James Givens Campbell [who married Margaret [Peggy] Berry, Elizabeth [Betsy] Campbell [who married John P. Berry], Samuel Givens Campbell [who married Mildred Rice], Deborah Campbell [who married Samuel Riggs], Isabella C. Campbell [who married Rev. Richard Blythe McCorkle], William [Bill] Campbell [who married Amanda W. Berry], and Sarah [Sally] Campbell [who married Thomas Hobbs}.

She was married to James McClure, and they were among the first settlers in Illinois, arriving in 1816, two years before the State joined the Union. In 1826 they were in Vermilion County, and then came to Holland’s Grove in Tazewell County in 1830.

James and Mary McClure deeded, on 22 June 1849, a piece of land 8.5 rods by 5 rods, containing ¼ acre to the County Commissioners of Tazewell County to be used as a public cemetery. It was located in the Southwest Quarter of the Northwest Quarter of Section Fourteen, of Washington Township in Tazewell County, Illinois. It became known as the “Baker Cemetery” as it was located on the old Squire Baker farm. James McClure had patented the Northwest Quarter of Section Fourteen from the government on the 30th of March 1837.

Among their children was Samuel H. McClure, who grew to adulthood and married Missouri Meek.
Other children born to this couple included: James C McClure [who died at the age of twenty],
Martha McClure, Benjamin McClure, and an infant son.

Polly [Campbell] McClure died on the 23rd day of April 1879 at the age of 84 years, 2 months, and 21 days.

By: James M. Richmond, ©October 2003

James C. McClure,

James C. McClure was born on the 25th of May 1825 of parents James McClure and Mary [Polly] [Campbell] McClure. He served as a Corporal in the 108th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the Civil War.
The Regiment was organized at Peoria, Ill., by Colonel John Warner, and mustered into the United States
service on the 28th day of August 1862.

The 108th Infantry participated in the siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi, and conducted various other campaigns
up and down the Mississippi river.

On the 20th of June 1865 the Regiment was mustered out of the service, and ordered to Chicago, Illinois.
The Regiment arrived at Chicago on the 27th of June 1865 and was finally discharged on the 7th day of July 1865.

James C. McClure died on the 14th day of August 1865 at age twenty years two months and twenty days.

By: James M. Richmond, ©October 2003

Children of James and Mary McClure

In addition to James C. McClure, there were four other children of James and Mary [Polly][Campbell] McClure who were buried in the Baker Cemetery of Washington, Illinois.
They were:

Martha, who died on the 8th of March 1838, age 20 yrs.
Benjamin, dates too vague and can not be read
Infant son, who died in March of 1834.
Son, who died in August of an unknown year.

By: James M. Richmond,© October 2003

McCorkle

Her husband was of Presbyterian stock, as his uncle, Rev. Samuel Eusebius McCorkle, was a noted Presbyterian minister in North Carolina and helped start the University of North Carolina. Rev. Richard Blythe McCorkle had listened to the discussions of the day from men such as Walter Scott., . Barton W. Stone, and Alexander Campbell, and soon became a follower of Barton Stone, who had split from the Presbyterian Church, in order to follow the more traditional and strict interpretation of the Bible. The “Restoration Movement” was underway, the Christian Church was created, and Rev. R.B. McCorkle was active in both.

After their marriage in 1811, they moved about the region a great deal. They tried several “Utopian” societies, some of which were promoted by a wealthy individual called Robert Owen. By 1815 they were living in the “Christian Settlement” of Allison Prairie, near Lawrenceville, Illinois, with two sisters and a brother and their families, who had each married into the Berry family. By 1821 they were living in Kentucky. By 1828-29 the family had moved to Monroe County, Indiana, near Bloomington and were living at Blue Springs in an “Owenite” community. At Blue Springs twenty-seven members and their families were living on three-hundred and twenty-five acres in a group of log houses built in the form of a square, including a granary and school. And then just prior to moving to Washington, Illinois, in October of 1830 they tried the “New Harmony” communal living experience for a few days, in New Harmony, Indiana. New Harmony began as a cooperative, where it thrived, but evolved into a commune, which eventually caused it’s demise.

A description of events that occurred just prior to the McCorkle’s departure from “New Harmony” was reported in a personal letter by Isabella’s granddaughter, Latina Louisa [Patrick] CRUM, in 1927, when Latina was 85 years of age:

“Grandmother did the making, mending, sewing, also from barks of trees colored the wool-that through the loom provided the family clothing. As she, grandmother, looked at a large roll standing by loom, she was justly proud. Presently, in came other lady of "dechex" with scissors in hand, cut off what she wanted without even a By your leave."

When grandfather came in, was told, at once he discovered it wasn't a "with your one-mind crowd." Quietly preparations were made for a removal to Illinois where grandmother's sister lived”

During these years and the next few years in Washington, Illinois, she gave birth to thirteen children. They were: Martha Olivia [who married John Henry Johnson], William, Elizabeth [who married Thadeus Bowman], Eliza Jane [who married Allan Patrick, son of Revolutionary War veteran Edward Fitz Patrick of McLean County], Joseph Byram [who married Cynthia Kice], Mary Amanda [who married Eli Patrick, son of Edward Fitz Patrick], Sarah Eunice [who married John Osbourne McCord], Miles Blythe [who married Martha Lucinda Gorin, daughter of Sanford Pell Gorin], William Milton [who married (1) Mary Smith and (2) Abigail Westerman Zumwalt], Elmira [who married Cyrus J. Gibson], George Washington, Celetia Amelia [who married Alva S. Greman], and Rhoda Louise [who married Martin Henry Hornish].

In about 1847 Ibby [as she was called by her husband], her husband, her youngest son, William, and her two youngest daughters, Elmira and Rhoda Louisa, moved west across the Illinois River to Peoria, where they lived for a few years. They returned to Washington sometime after the 1850 census. Her husband passed away in 1854 in Washington, Illinois. She died on the 7th of January 1873, while she was living with the family of her eldest daughter, Mrs. John Henry Johnson. She lived on this earth seventy-six years, nine months, and seven days. She was buried beside her husband in the Baker Cemetery of Washington, Illinois.

By: James M. Richmond, ©October 2003

The image above is the only one I ,*James Richmond*,have available of Isabella [Campbell] McCorkle.
Unfortunately there is a blemish on the image, which covers most of the face of the woman. But one can at least see the dress of the era.
This image was made available by Arlene Johnson, great, great granddaughter of Isabella McCorkle and great granddaughter of John Henry Johnson,
who is also a resident of the cemetery.

Richard B. McCorkle,

Richard Blythe McCorkle was the second born son of William McCorkle and Margaret Blythe. He was born in the Salisbury District of Rowan County, North Carolina on the 17th day of November 1786. His mother was the daughter of Rev. James Blythe and Elizabeth King, who were among the earliest settlers of Rowan County. His father was one of ten children born to Alexander McCorkle [a patriot of the Revolution] and Nancy [Agnes] Montgomery.

When Blythe, as Richard was called when he was young, was no more than two years of age his parents, with Blythe’s brother, Samuel Montgomery McCorkle, moved from North Carolina across the mountains to Fayette County, Virginia [now Kentucky, near Lexington], where they were “admitted” to the Walnut Hill Presbyterian Church, on 2nd day of June of 1788. The obvious migration route from Rowan County would have been over the rugged “Wilderness Road” and through the Cumberland Gap. They had many narrow escapes here from hostile natives, and were required to live in a fort, to keep their weapons at the ready, and to be on watch day and night.

The Blythe grandparents also made the move and were also members of Walnut Hill. Blythe’s uncle, Robert McCorkle, who had married Blythe’s mother’s sister, Elizabeth Blythe, also was a member of Walnut Hill, along with his wife. And a second uncle, Joseph, was also admitted at the same time as Blythe’s parents.

The following year, in October of 1789, Blythe’s sister, Asenath McCorkle was born in the wilderness of Fayette County. Asenath was an Egyptian name meaning “gift of the sun-god”. She was named after this Egyptian goddess, mentioned in the Bible. Within a few years Blythe and his family moved south to Tennessee, probably to escape the Indian unrest of the area.

On the 2nd of October 1793 Blythe’s father paid $37.50 to James Wilson for thirty acres of land on the waters of “Station Camp Creek” in Sumner County, Tennessee, north of Nashville. Station Camp Creek flows south through Sumner County and empties into the Cumberland River a few miles south of Gallatin, Tennessee.

The same year, 1793, Blythe and his family were present during the organization of the Shiloh Presbyterian Church, in Sumner County. Rev. William McGee from the Muhlenburg Presbytery organized this church in 1793, and it soon became active in the Great Revival. Within about a year Blythe’s mother passed away, leaving three small children aged 6, 8 and 9. She was buried in the King Cemetery, near Gallatin. The cemetery is also known as the Old Shiloh Presbyterian Church Cemetery.

Also a member of the Shiloh Church was Jane Purviance, a widow of John Purviance, who had been shot, scalped, and left weltering in his own blood by the Indians in Sumner County in May of 1792. She was so near the murder that she could hear the savage yells. Friends prevented her from attempting to stop the attack and restrained her from preventing his demise. The couple’s only child, a daughter, was born a few months later.

Blythe’s father, William, married his second wife, Jane [aka Martha King] Purviance in Sumner County on Christmas Day, 1794. In October of 1796 Blythe’s father was commissioned a Lieutenant in the Sumner County Militia. In about the same year Blythe’s half brother, Miles McCorkle was born in Sumner County. Miles McCorkle later became a successful Lebanon physician and Tennessee state legislature.

In April of 1799 Blythe’s father again was again met with sadness, as his second wife passed away. She also was buried in the Shiloh Presbyterian Church Cemetery. Blythe was now about thirteen years of age. His brother was about fourteen, his younger sister was ten, and his half-brother was about three.

Blythe’s father married, in Sumner County, a third time on June 9, 1800. He married Jenny Graham, who was about thirty years of age at the time. During the next ten years she gave birth to John, Amelia, and Blanche Locke McCorkle. Blythe now had a brother, a sister, two half-brothers, and two half-sisters.

Three years later on the 5th of December 1803 William McCorkle sold his property in Sumner County and moved a few miles south to Rutherford County where he settled on a farm “on the north side of the Main East Fork of Stones River”.

The Great Western Revival religious movement began in 1800 and reached its crest in about 1803. The primary areas of this movement were in Tennessee and Kentucky. On the weekends in May and June of 1801 there were a series of revival meetings near Lexington, Kentucky where as many as 10,000 people attended just one of the meetings. Barton W. Stone emerged from these meetings as a leader of a splinter group that formed the Christian Church. All of these happenings were followed by Blythe’s father and lead him in his last years to begin preaching. Young Blythe, no doubt, was influenced by the religious background of his family and of the religious events of the day that were sounded by Stone.

At the age of twenty-four Richard Blythe McCorkle began his married life when he married Isabella C. Campbell, daughter of Joseph Campbell and Sarah Givens of Lincoln County, Kentucky. They were married in Wilson County, Tennessee on the 10th of January 1811.

During the next twenty years Blythe and Ibby, as he called his wife, moved about the country a great deal and tried a number of “utopian” societies. It is likely that their brothers and/or sisters and their families moved with Blythe and Ibby to these experimental cooperatives, communes, or settlements of one type or another.

They were at the “Christian Settlement” at Allison Prairie, near Lawrenceville in about 1815, and in 1821 were in Kentucky. They lived at the Blue Springs “Owenite” Harmony community near Bloomington, Indiana up until about1830; then they were living at “New Harmony”, Indiana for a few days, before moving to Washington in Tazewell County, Illinois in October of 1830. Here in Washington, Blythe started the Christian Church and became a successful farmer on land located in Sections 10, 11, and 15 of Washington Township. Blythe was also a private in the company Captain Charles Dorsey of Tazewell County, Illinois in 1831 during the Black Hawk War.

When Blythe’s father passed away in Rutherford County, Tennessee in about 1818, Blythe inherited a slave known as “Micah”. Micah was of the same age as Blythe, and the boys grew up together. Blythe did not believe in slavery, so he set Micah free. However, Micah did not want to go, and so he stayed with “Mr. Richard” and his family as they moved about the frontier. Micah was with Blythe and Ibby when they joined Ibby’s sister and husband, Polly and Jim McClure, in Holland’s Grove in October of 1830. And he helped build the McCorkle’s first home in Tazewell County.

The wanderlust of Blythe and Ibby did not stop in Washington, as in 1847, with their family of 13 children mostly grown and on their own, Blythe and Ibby moved across the Illinois River to the city of Peoria. Here they lived for a few years, prior to moving back to Washington, where he came to rest on the 11th day of February 1854.

By: James M. Richmond, ©October 2003

George Washington McCorkle,

George Washington McCorkle was born in Illinois [probably Washington, Illinois] on the 3rd of February 1833
to parents Richard Blythe McCorkle and Isabella [Campbell] McCorkle. He was one of five boys in a family containing eight sisters.

He moved with his parents from Washington, Illinois to Peoria, Illinois in about 1847, when he was fourteen years of age. At the time of the 1850 census in Peoria he was enumerated with his parents and was listed as a “Carpenter” for his profession.

Washington McCorkle, as he was known, died on the 16th day of September 1850 when he was seventeen years, seven months and eight days old.

By: James M. Richmond, ©October 2003

Sarah Eunice McCorkle,

Sarah Eunice McCorkle was born on the 23rd of March 1823 to Rev. Richard Blythe McCorkle and Isabella [Campbell] McCorkle. She was one of eight daughters born to a family containing thirteen children.

She married John Osbourne McCord on February 12, 1845 in Tazewell County, Illinois. She died seven days later at the age of twenty-one years, eleven months, and twenty-seven days. She was buried in the Baker cemetery of Washington, Illinois, where her parents and other family members were later buried.

By: James M. Richmond, ©October 2003

Children of Joseph Byram McCorkle

Four children of Joseph Byram McCorkle and Cythia Ann Kice were buried in the Baker Cemetery.

James Lafayette McCorkle, also known as Charles Lafayette McCorkle, son of Joseph Byram McCorkle and Cynthia Ann [Kice] McCorkle, a native of Augusta Co., VA, was born on the 15th of December 1841 and died in his first year, on the 17th of March 1842.

Laura J. McCorkle was born on the 16th day of April 1851 to parents Joseph Byram McCorkle and
Cynthia Ann [Kice] McCorkle.

And an infant daughter, who died on the 30th of April 1846, was also buried in the Baker Cemetery.

And the fourth child was of unknown name and sex, but died on 23 April 1844 at the age of two years, eleven months.

Their father, Joseph Byram McCorkle, was born in Lawrence County, Illinois, and then as a young boy, settled in 1830 on a farm a few miles north of Washington, Illinois with his parents Rev. Richard Blythe McCorkle and his wife Isabella [Campbell] McCorkle. Joseph B. McCorkle was a farmer for several years and marketed farm products at Fort Dearborn, now Chicago. After moving to Washington County in 1848, he began to build wagons with a successful business. Began preaching in about 1860, was a successful evangelist in the Church of Christ, and organized in 1872 the Christian Church at Roanoke in Woodford County, Illinois. During his public ministry he baptized over one thousand persons.

This McCorkle family had eleven siblings. They included: Josephine Maria, Laura J., Richard H., Mary E., Orpha J., Eunice A., Cyrus B., James Lafayette, and Z. A. McCorkle. There was also an infant sister, and another child of unknown sex, both of whom died young.

They were buried in the Baker Cemetery of Washington, Illinois with their grandparents.

By: James M. Richmond, ©October 2003

Daniel T. Parish,

Daniel T. Parish was the son of J.T. and H. Parish. He died on the 12th day of July 1852 and was buried in the Baker Cemetery of Washington, Illinois. Little other information is available.

By: James M. Richmond, ©October 2003

Seaman

James Seaman,

Little is known of James Seaman other than he served in the Civil War in Company B of the. 47th Illinois Volunteer Infantry as a private from Tazewell County.

The 47th Regiment mustered in at Peoria on the 16th of August 1863 and participated in campaigns up and down the Mississippi River, including the siege of Vicksburg and the battle of Mobile Bay at Spanish Fort.
The Unit was mustered out on the 21st of January 1866 at Selma, Alabama and ordered to Springfield, Illinois
where final pays were dispersed.

Following his death he was buried in the Baker Cemetery of Washington, Illinois.

By: James M. Richmond, ©October 2003

Thomas D. Seaman,

Thomas Seaman settled in Washington Township of Tazewell County in 1852 with his wife, Lucinda McNutt.
Little more is known of him, but he served in the Civil War in Company B of the 47th Illinois Volunteer
Infantry as a private. During his service he was transferred from Company B to Company A to serve as consol.

The 47th Regiment mustered in at Peoria on the 16th of August 1863 and participated in campaigns up and down the Mississippi River, including the siege of Vicksburg and the battle of Mobile Bay at Spanish Fort.
The Unit was mustered out on the 21st of January 1866 at Selma, Alabama and ordered to Springfield, Illinois
where final pays were dispersed.

Following his death he was buried in the Baker Cemetery of Washington, Illinois.

By: James M. Richmond, ©October 2003

Charles Thomas Seaman,

Little is known of Charles Thomas Seaman, but he was an infant son of Willis and Emma Seaman.
He was born on the 9th day of March 1894 and died the next year on the 29th of July 1895,
and was buried in the Baker Cemetery of Washington, Illinois.

By: James M. Richmond, ©October 2003

BACK

Tazewell County, IL Genealogy Trails
County Coordinator: Candi Horton
Genealogy Trails History Group is a Volunteer Organization Dedicated to providing FREE access to Historical and Genealogical Data.
© 2006 - 2007 by Genealogy Trails -  All Rights Reserved - With full rights reserved for original submitters.