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.
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