The Whitchurch Family at Silver Creek

St Clair County Illinois rests in the southwestern part of the state and includes the towns of Belleville and Mascoutah.  It borders with the state of Missouri, and the famous prairie town of St Louis-East St Louis, which straddles the border, is within twenty miles of Belleville Illinois.  St Clair County’s earliest form of government divided the county into precincts, but later used the township system.  The Whitchurch farms were located about equidistant from the small St Clair communities of Freeburg and Fayetteville. 

 A description of the area in a St Clair County history, gives detail:

 . . Silver creek, which enters the township on its northern boundary, flows a southerly course, emptying into the Kaskaskia; tributaries furnish water for stock and other purposes. The streams are skirted with a fine growth of timber. The surface is gently undulating, with considerable stretches of rich prairie. The noted Tamarois prairie . . lies partially in this township. The soil is well adapted to all cereals, and produces abundant crops.

Some of the earliest surveys and land grants to immigrant settlers were taken out around the turn of the century.  Family names included Teter, Mitchell, Shook, Griffen, Biggs, Rutherford and Edgar.  By 1814, public domain lands were being purchased from the federal government.  These early purchasers included – James Adams, Matthew Atchison, Pierre Menard, *David Howell, William McIntosh, Samuel Griffith, G Hendricks (to Stephen Whiteside), Samuel Mitchell, William Goings, Thomas Pulliam and Daniel Stookey.

It is not clear exactly when William Whitchurch arrived in the area.  According to family history, William Whitchurch was born in New York City in 1778, and he was married to Elizabeth Howell in 1801 in Knox county Tennessee.  The first record of note in Illinois is when William Whitchurch appears in the 1820 Census, placing him near the Silver Creek “settlement” in St Clair county.  It seems likely that he came to the area about 1815, around the time that *David W Howell, his brother-in-law, purchased, “. . 160 acres, being the NE quarter section 25, April 27th, 1815.“

William Whitchurch was married three times. He was first married to Elizabeth Howell, with whom he had nine identified children.  After her death he was married to Celia Carr in 1824, St Clair county Illinois.  William and Celia had four children.  His final, brief marriage was to Sarah (maiden name unknown).  Sarah was the widow of a Mister Herrin and brought three Herrin children into her marriage with William Whitchurch in June of 1848.  William Whitchurch died three months later, in September 1848.

William Whitchurch and his son built a mill in 1828.  The county history tells us, “. . They did all the work themselves, except the blacksmithing. The stone, which they dressed themselves, was found in David Pulliam’s branch, about three miles south-east of FayettevilIe. It was a round rock about 5 feet in diameter. It was claimed by millers to be equal to any French burrstone. By changing teams, the mill would turn out seventy-five bushels per day. Oxen were mostly used in grinding . . . “

On 21 March 1811, seven families organized the Silver Creek Baptist Church. They met in homes until 1817, when a log church was built.  The church was constituted on the Bible of the Old and New Testament, and stated a stand against slavery.  Members of the Whitchurch family participated in the life of the Silver Creek Church. The deaths of William Whitchurch’s second wife, and two sons appear in the records:  Celia Whitchurch in November 1845, Wessel Whitchurch in January 1849, and James [White] Whitchurch in Nov 1852.

Today the Old Silver Creek church is gone. Families joined with the congregations of Freeburg, Fayetteville and Mascoutah.  An 1863 township map for St Clair County, shows William Whitchurch’s son Gilbert Whitchurch still in possession of the family farms along Silver Creek.  But, by 1870 Gilbert had moved on to Dekalb County Missouri.  A number of Whitchurch descendants remained in the Silver Creek area well into the twentieth century.


*The History of St Clair County Illinois refers to the early settler of the NE corner of section 25 as Daniel Howell.  But, a review of the land records confirms that it was David W Howell.  

Sources:
History of St Clair County, Vol 2; Wilderman, 1907.
St Clair County History; Brink, McDonough and Co, 1881.
Freeburg Centennial Booklet, 1859-1959; available online.


For more details on William Whitchurch, visit his page at Family Stories, pamgarrett.com.

About the photo:
Turkey Hill Farm; from History of St Clair County Illinois; Brink, McDonough and Co, 1881.

Moving back in time:  Otis Sylvester Garrett 1894 > Isaac Sylvester Garrett 1860 > Celia Whitchurch 1833 > William Whitchurch 1778.
William Whitchurch is my husband’s 3xgreat-grandfather.

Lippe Detmold: German Homeland of the Biesemeier Family

Our Biesemeier ancestors were settled in the Principality of Lippe by the 1600’s.  Many Biesemeier births, marriages, and deaths appear in the Evangelical church records at Horn and Bosingfeld beginning in the late 1600’s.  

Lippe is a small but ancient region in northwestern Germany.  It is located between the Weser River and the Teutonburg forest. On a modern map you would find it about 200 miles north of Frankfurt and 180 miles east of Amsterdam.  Originally included in the duchy of Saxony, Lippe became a lordship in the twelfth century and a county in 1529.  By the 1700’s Lippe was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire.  As Lippe underwent several divisions, the area where the Biesemeier family lived became known as Lippe-Detmold.  Detmold was the largest town in the area. By 1815, Lippe was a member of the German Confederation.  Today Lippe is part of the state of North Rhine - Westphalia.  

Cord Biesemeier was probably born between 1780-1790 in the Lippe region.  Some researchers record his birth in the year 1771 in Stumpenhagan (Bega) in Lippe Detmold, but this seems early. His marriage to Wilhelmine Ellerbrock is recorded in the town of Horn, Lippe Detmold in 1818.  

From his 1818 marriage agreement we learn that Cord Biesemeier is a Kotter – a farmer or cottager, who rents his land.  And, that he and his bride will be living on, and operating the Biesemeier farm at number 18 in Leopoldthal.  His father, Friederich Biesemeier will continue to operate half of the farm, until he goes into retirement.  His bride, daughter of Johann Ellerbrock, hails from Frommhausen number 18.  

The towns of Horn, Leopoldstatt (Leopoldthal), Stumpenhagen (Bega), and Fromhausen are all listed as historic towns of Lippe Detmold.  Horn is the largest, and today adjoins the town of Bad Meinberg, an early spa location.  All of these towns lay within about a 15 mile radius of the city of Detmold.

In the mid-nineteenth century, the farms of Lippe were clustered together in hamlets. The land belonged to the nobility and was leased to tenant farmers. Farms tended to stay in the hands of one family for generations, most often passing to the oldest son, but occasionally being divided for use by the next generation. Families tended to be relatively small and not all the children married.

The valleys of the Lippe region sport good amounts of arable land and supported numerous small, but prosperous, peasant farmers. The climate is considered mild and agreeable.  This allowed for the raising of grains, beans, tobacco, and a variety of vegetables and fruits. Apple wine and plum brandy were popular in the area.  Dairy products abounded and the Lippe families raised horned cattle, pigs, sheep, goats and fowl.  Game hunting and fishing provided further protein.  

Researcher Maggie Blanck includes this delightful description of typical farm buildings in 1865, northern Germany.  It comes from an article titled, The Sacristan’s Household, published in Anthony Trollope’s Saint Paul Magazine:  

The whole centre of the building is a large and lofty barn, piled high with hay and straw and store of grain. It is, too, a storehouse for farm implements, and so huge are its proportions, that a harvest waggon laden with sheaves, and drawn by three or four sturdy horses, can pass easily through the doorway, and stand beneath its ample shelter. From the barn, which entirely occupies the central length and breadth of the building, is the only possible ingress to the dwelling-house. On the right hand and on the left are doors and windows giving access to the living and sleeping rooms of the family. Nearly all the light and air which reaches these apartments gains admission through the wide-open double doors of the barn . .  

Interesting studies of German House Inscriptions (Hausinschriften) have been helpful to family historians. In certain rural regions of the German-speaking world they were part of the cultural tradition and custom for many centuries. They were often carved into wooden beams of half-timbered houses, but are also found over driveways and entrances. Several inscriptions related to the Biesemeier family appear in the Lippe region.  One of particular interest was located in Leopoldstal, number 3 Kuhlmanns.  It represents the household of Johan Biesemeier and Frederica Kuhlman.  Johan is a possible brother of Cord Biesemeier. The German inscription reads:

ES IST O GOTT DEIN WILLE DAS BAUEN NUR AUF ERDEN DU GIEBST DEINEN KINDERN BROD UND WOHNUNG HIER AUF ERDEN
JOHAN BERNHARD BIESEMEIER AUS DEN LEPPOLDSDAHL FRIEDERIKE KUHLEMANS DASELBST DEN 5. JULIUS 1810 M.T.S.P

English:
It is O God your will to build only on earth, you give your children bread and accommodation here on earth; Johan Bernhard Biesemeier from Leopoldstal, Friederike Kuhleman, this is 5 July 1810.
 

For more details on Cord Biesemeier, visit his page at Family Stories, pamgarrett.com.

Further Reading:
LWL Open Air Museum at Detmold;  lwl-freilichtmuseum-detmold.de/en/
Lippe Detmold DE; Geographical DNA Project for the area now known as Lippe, North Rhein-Westphalia;
https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/lippe-detmold-de/about/background
Maggie Blanck Website; http://www.maggieblanck.com/index.html
Der Genealogische Abend: Naturwissenschaftlicher und Historischer Verein für das Land Lippe [Genealogy: Scientific and Historical Association for the state of Lippe]; http://nhv-ahnenforschung.de/

About the photo:
The district of Leopoldstal in Horn-Bad Meinberg, Lippe, North Rhein-Westphalia; shared by Grugerio, Aug 2014; Creative Commons.

Moving back in time:  Elba Josephine Hoffman 1898 > Josephine S Biesemeier 1866 > Rev William Biesemeier 1833 > Cord Biesemeier 1796.
Cord Biesemeier is my husband’s 3xgreat-grandfather.