James C. Anderson Comes to Illinois

If you have never visited the Schuyler County Historical Museum located in Rushville, Illinois, … well, it’s time to go! This museum is a goldmine for anyone doing family research in the Schuyler County region.  It is located right down the street from the County Courthouse and the Rushville Public Library … all filled with the information you are seeking!

The following excerpt comes from an article written by Edna Marcella Harris Workman. My sister, Sharon, found this article at the Jail Museum in the Schuyler County History book, Volume 1983, p. 159-160.  This article tells the story of Willis Mitchell’s grandfather’s migration from Virginia to Illinois in 1856:

“The earliest Anderson ancestors we know of were our great-great grandparents, James and Elizabeth Biggs Anderson.  They were married 23 May, 1821, in Orleans, Virginia, Fauquire County.  James was a shoemaker.  They had several children, all of who remained in Virginia, except two sons and one daughter.”

“After both parents died, James Calvin decided to fulfill his dream of coming to Illinois.  He didn’t feel he should leave his thirteen year old brother, Washington, and sixteen year old sister in Virginia, so in 1856, the three of them traveled by covered wagon to Scott County, Illinois.”

“James was born 1 May, 1830, Virginia, married 25 April 1858 to Sarah Jane Pettigrew, daughter of James Robinson and Sarah Lancaster Pettigrew.  He died 4 January 1900 Browning.”

James and Washington entered the Civil War August 1862 from Exeter.  Washington died (records say of a disease) complications of measles, January 1863 Fountain Head, Tennessee, and is buried there.”

James was discharged November 1862 at Bowling Green, Kentucky, for disability.  They both served in Company F., One Hundred Twenty Ninth Infantry Regiment, Illinois Volunteers.”

“James and Sarah settled on a small farm around the Ridgeville area, near Browning.  Their children attended the little country school.  This school building was torn down years ago.  As was the custom, they walked more than two miles in deep snow drifts to acquire their education.  They attended the little Ridgeville church; the building has been rebuilt and still in use today.”

“Their first three children died in infancy, their other children as follows:  Mark Washington, James Marion, Luella, Sarah, Melissia, Flavel and Stella.  ….. Sarah Jane married Frank Mitchell, issue; Nellie, Grant, Cecil, Charles, Willis and Walter.

Here is a moving account of the migration of the Mitchell family from West Liberty, West Virginia, to New Design, Illinois, in 1797.  That we are here today is testimony to the survival skills and strength of these ancestors (among others, of course).  This account is taken from the book, Echoes of Their Voices, by Carl R. Baldwin (pages 333 – 335) published in 1978, by the Hawthorn Publishing Co., Inc., St. Louis, MO.   

Artist, Alfred R. Waud

Mr. Baldwin begins his narrative in 1796 when Rev. David Badgley and Leonard Car came to Southern Illinois on a scouting expedition.  The explorers liked what they saw and returned to their home on the South Branch of Potomac River to pack up their families and head west.  Baldwin writes:  

Badgley  “… spread the word of New Design and the other wonders he had seen ..   He advertised the new land so well that when his family set off on the great migration, they were accompanied by other Virginians:  the Carrs, Stookeys, Eyemans, Shooks, Mitchells, Kinkeads, Clarks, Teters and Millers.  Their hopes were high as they completed the longest part of the journey, climaxed by the float down the Ohio River to  Fort Massac at the southern tip of Illinois.” 

“Here they ran into problems.  The spring of 1797 was one of the wettest in Illinois history.  Southern Illinois had not seen so much high water since 1779 when George Rogers Clark led his small army across the ‘drowned lands’ in the march on Vincennes.”  …

“Badgley’s party may have planned on taking the short route to Kaskaskia, following the trail blazed by Col. Clark.  The streams emptying into the Ohio may have blocked their way.  At any rate they finally chose to drive their wagons and livestock through the wilderness directly to their destination. Even as they started the overland journey they were suffering from a lack of one of their most important commodities — salt.  The weather had turned quite hot and their unsalted meat was spoiling.  Many apparently became ill from food poisoning, from fever and ague, and from drinking the milk of cattle which were eating rank herbage.  Had the leadership of the party been acquainted with the country they would have known that only a slight detour would have taken them to some of the most productive salt springs in America, in a section of southern Illinois that later would be divided ino the counties of Gallatin and Saline.”

“For mile after mile the immigrants had to wade through sheets of water, often hip and waist deep, and to push and pull covered wagons that sank to their beds in the mire.  They struggled in the uncharted wilderness for 21 days, walking and riding through heavy showers and trying to rest at night in sodden bedclothing or on wet leaves under trees that provided slight shelter.  Before the wildnerness had been traversed some of the travelers were dead and others were dying.”

“When they reached the bluffs lining the eastern flood plain of the Mississippi River and drove down into the bottoms, they found conditions not much better.  Settlers already in the country had neglected crops because of the flooding and the Indian scare.  Most of the one-room log cabins in and near the forts already were giving shelter to two and three families.”

“The Carrs, Stookeys, Eyemans, Shooks, Mitchells, Kinkeads, Clarks, Badgleys, Teters and Millers struggled for existence during the hot and humid summer months, using axes, drawing-knives and augers to erect the most primitive shelters.  They planted and tended late garden crops under the most adverse conditions.  Every day or so somebody in one of the families died of a ‘putrid fever,’ described by the survivors as uncommonly malignant.  There were times when a child, a woman or a man died within hours of falling ill.”

“By the end of the summer, only 63 of the 126 venturesome souls who started the journey were left alive.  A bluff near New Design was covered with new graves.”

(The Battle of New Orleans by Henry Bryan Hall )

In recognition of the War of 1812 bicentennial, I will write about our ancestor, George Skiles.  George Skiles was a soldier in the War of 1812 and was with General Jackson in the battle of New Orleans.  It is significant that he fought in this war because the federal government paid soldiers for their service by giving them land.  The land awarded to soldiers between the Illinois River and the Mississippi River is referred to as “Military Tract Land” and “Military District.”  Schuyler County, IL,  lies in this region … as does George Skiles.

George Skiles is the great-great grandfather of Grandpa Willis Van Mitchell (my mother’s father).  According to information gathered on Ancestry.com, George Skiles was born in Hagerstown, Maryland on August 11, 1778.  His parents were John and Elizabeth Skiles.  At the age of 24, he married Miss Mary Polly Justus in Blount County, Tennessee  (January 7, 1802).  She was 19 years old.  They had four children before George entered the war as an Ensign in the 3 Regiment (Roulston’s) West Tennessee Military.  George returned from battle, moved many times and had a total of twelve children.

The following information is taken from the Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Schuyler County, 1908, edited by Howard F. Dyson:

“George Skiles, who became a resident of Browning in the early ‘thirties, first located in Schuyler County December 2, 1826, when he built a cabin on Section 16 in Rushville Township.  He was a soldier of the war of 1812 and was with Gen. Jackson in the battle of New Orleans.  In 1816 he located in Indiana, moved from there to Kentucky, and later to Missouri in 1819, where he lived until he took up his home in Schuyler County.  Mr Skiles was Coroner of Schuyler in 1830, and held the first inquest in the county over the body of George Everett who was murdered by James Morgan.”

“The first mill in Browning Township was erected on the east bank of Sugar Creek, in section 20, in 1829 by George Skiles, David Wallace and Alfred C. Wallace.  At first it was rigged for a sawmill, but burrs were added in 1831 to grind wheat and corn.  Thomas Justus (George’s brother in law) also built a mill above the site of this one in 1829 which was a combined saw and grist-mill.”

Another source, http://schuyler.ilgenweb.net/schuylernewhome/Towns/Browningtwp.html provides additional information:

… he came to Schuyler County, bringing with him a family of eleven children, several of whom are still living, four daughters and three sons; John lives in the town of Browning, James R. in McDonough county and William C. in Nebraska.  All three are ministers of the gospel.”

Orlean, Virginia

The photo at the head of this blog is a view of Orlean, Virginia: the birthplace of our Great Great Grandfather James Calvin Anderson. James Calvin was born in 1830 to James (a shoemaker) and Elizabeth Biggs-Anderson.

Two Serious Researchers

Hello Family

Welcome to the Mitchell Family genealogy blog.  This is a place to share photographs and information.  Enjoy!