Our Family in Illinois: History of Menard and Mason County, Illinois.

January 11, 2006

This is a large file (3.5mb) PDF file but very interesting. I've taken pages that help illustrate what life was like for our family in Illinois (Mason and Menard Counties) in the 1830's to 1850's. There are rich descriptions of the country, way of live and anecdotes of all sorts. Menard and Mason counties were originally parts of Sangamon County with the Sangamon River running through the area. Salt Creek Township, Havana and Sugar Grove are all areas that were familiar to the Hamilton's and the Judd's. Supplina Hamilton left for Oregon from Sugar Grove in Menard County in 1851 in the company of the Powel brother's (John, Alfred and Noah). The leader of the train was John Alkrie Powel. They passed through Havana as they exited. John Alkrie (J.A.) Powel was named for John Alkrie a local and noted Christian Church minister and family friend. John Alkrie Powel was also a minister and had a great influence on Supplina Hamilton. John Alkrie Powel married Supplina and Sarah Jane Sumpter in Linn County, Oregon in 1858. Many familiar families and names are mentioned in these pages. The history of the Alkrie family among them. The book also contains a history of the pride of Mason County the 85th Infantry that mustered and marched off to the Civil War in August of 1862. The 85th served in the Atlanta campaign under General Sherman and disbanded and returned to Illinois in June of 1865. Supplina Hamilton's younger twin brothers, James and William McCord Hamilton are mentioned by name and rank. James is mentioned three times as he was promoted to Sergeant then Second and then First Lieutenant. William McCord Hamilton held the rank of First Sergeant. William was wounded in the summer of 1863 and James was captured during the fierce battles of Peach Tree Creek, Georgia (near Atlanta) on July 18 & 19, 1864. Both of the twins survived the war. Here's an interesting thing: On the bottom of page 231 and top of page 232 there is a discussion of the founding of the Presbyterian Synod at Sugar Creek. One of the founding Elders (or 'presbyters') was John Hamilton. One of the licentiates present was William McCord. The author puts the date at 1828. This would be too early for our John Hamilton as he didn't arrive until least 1830/1 (as he was in New York at the 1830 Census). Anyway, it is possible that the author doesn't have his dates exactly right. It appears that author may be off significantly on other dates. For instance on page 538 the author mentioned that John Powel's home was rebuilt by a new owner in 1840 as he had, 'Moved to Oregon.' 1840 would have been an early date for him to have crossed the Oregon Trail. We know that John A. Powel lead his train to Oregon in 1851. I'm doing more research on this to see if he's refering to J.A. Powel's dad (not likely). Anyway, let's go back to the mention of elder John Hamilton. <strong>It's interesting that John Hamilton is mentioned with his fellow presbyter, William McCord</strong>. Supplina's father John Hamilton named one of his twin boys, born in 1834, William McCord Hamilton. There is no other known 'McCord' relationship in the Hamilton family. The Irish name, McCord, is always a surname not a given name. The fact that he was named William McCord Hamilton strongly suggests that he was named after someone with the last name of McCord.

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