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Union County’s Early Militia Illinois Genealogy Trails Transcribed and submitted by Darrel Dexter Among the old relics in J.H. Hilboldt’s possession is a dingy and time stained book containing records of the “10th Regiment, 2nd Brigade and 1st Division of Illinois Militia. The first entry is dated in October 1821, but there were extracts from a regimental court of inquiry that appears to have been held in Jonesboro on Saturday, the 11th day of December, 1819, presided over by Col. Thomas Cox, Lieut. Col. Daniel T. Coleman, judge advocate; Captains John Hunsaker and Robert W. Crafton and Lieutenants Francis Parker and Henry Cruse. There also seems to have been a Capt. Evans and Capt. Hacker in 1819. The company returns for the year 1821 showed that there were seven companies in the regiment, numbered from 1 to 7. The strength of the companies ranged from 26 in the seventh to 83 in the second, which included officers and men, and the regiment had a total strength of 383. Richard M. Young was colonel of the regiment, and while the officers and enlisted men comprise many names that are well known in the county today, there are some that are forgotten. The courts of inquiry, which were held annually and also on special occasions, seemed to be mostly to raise money as fines were liberally assessed against men and officers who failed to attend regimental musters or were not properly armed and accoutered. The fines ranged from 50 cents to $10, according to the rank of the offender. The musters alluded to above were held in the old field lying between the Baptist church and the grave yard. They were great occasions. The uniform of the commanding officer we are told was something wonderful to behold. The men drank cider oil, hard cider, and whiskey and settled all the fights of the county for a year. The discipline, of course, was not strict. The equipment of one of the companies shows that it had three swords and belts, 42 muskets and rifles, 41 pouches and horns, 36 ¼ pounds of powder, 38 pounds of lead, 395 loose balls, 34 screws, 54 flints, 32 wires and brushes, 1 drum, and 1 fife. Col. Young was succeeded in command by Col. Wesley F. Nimmo and he was succeeded by Col. H.C. Hodges.
The last
entry in the book is dated in 1842, and the record closes with the
melancholy announcement that the total amount of fines for that year
amounted to $104.75. Jonesboro Gazette, Jonesboro, Ill., Saturday, 2 Aug 1902
Old 1819 Militia Election Return Transcribed and submitted by Darrel Dexter In clearing away some old rubbish in the
county clerk�s office at the court house recently the returns of an election
held on the 5th day of June 1819, neatly tied and labeled, were
uncovered and consigned to the waste basket.
The returns were on unruled sheets of white paper, now yellow with age,
and the penmanship is usually good and the ink unfaded. The election was for a colonel, major,
captain, lieutenant and ensign of a militia organization and some of the returns
were from Alexander county while others did not designate where the election was
held. However, one of the voting places
was at the dwelling house of Benjamin Menees in the township of Cash in the
county of Union, and the returns are accompanied by the full roster of voters
there, 44 in number, and included such names as Craig, Standard, McGinnis, Gore, McIntosh, Abernathie, Lizenby, Conaway, McIntire, Tripp, Bradshaw, Thornton, and Alexander. Another voting place was at the home of
Robert Crafton, wherever that was in
Union county. Robert H. Loyd was clerk of the election held at
Crafton's house but he returned no
roster of names, although the number of votes cast was 24. One of the returns reads: "We the judges of an election held at the
court house in Jonesborough at the county of Union and State of Illinois,"
&c From it we learn that one Thomas
Cox was a candidate for colonel,
also one Owen Evans. Who were the successful candidates we are
unable to tell, but Cox had 94 votes
at Jonesborough and Evans 34. Candidates for other officers were Abner Field, B.W. Jones, Michael Collier, Benjamin Menees, Isaac Williams, John S. Hacker, who got 54 votes for captain;
Thomas Sams, Henry Cruse, Thomas Fisher, William Corling and I.N. Conner. Alex P. Field, clerk, and John Grammer and Henry Cruse certified to the returns of the
election held at Jonesborough in the court house, which was, on the
5th day of June, 1819, a rude log building in the center of the
public square. A list probably the polls
of this election includes such names as Brown, Summers, Waggoner, Dean, Young, Parker, Bowman, Thornton, Hughes, Jones, Hargrave, Misenhimer, Ritter, Langley, Tinsley, McMurry, Lingle, Hight, Williams, Shelton, Hunsaker, Grammer, Hess, Heacock, Lence, Hacker, Elms, and Clutts, 74 in all. Some of the names appearing on the crude
records of this election are still familiar in Union county, while others are
unknown and the men who bore them forgotten. (Jonesboro Gazette, Jonesboro, Illinois,
Saturday, 13 Sep 1907) |