Madison
County Genealogical Society
Minutes of the Meeting - February 9, 2017
The February 2017 meeting of the
Madison County Genealogical Society was held at the Edwardsville Public Library
on Thursday, February 9, at 7:00 pm.
President, Robert Ridenour, called the
meeting to order.
GIFT
MEMBERSHIPS AVAILABLE
Do you have a family member that is
interested in (or even obsessed with) genealogy? A membership in the Madison
County Genealogical Society would be a very thoughtful gift. A gift card will
be sent to the recipient of any gift membership.
The following memberships are available:
Individual/Family Annual Membership $25.00
Patron Annual Membership $35.00
Life Membership $300.00
Contact our Secretary, Petie Hunter, at petie8135@att.net,
about a gift membership.
February
Meeting
On February 9, 2017, Lola DeGroff presented a
program titled Women in the War
of 1812. Lola DeGroff retired from the Department of Defense following
more than 20 years of government service. She is the Vice Regent of the
Illinois DAR, member of and past Regent of the Silver Creek DAR Chapter, past
State President of the Illinois Society US Daughters of 1812, treasurer of the
Shawnee Chapter Colonial Dames of the XVII Century, and a member of several
other lineage organizations.
Lola gave an overview of the War of 1812 in Illinois and its effect on the
women of the region. She finished by relating specific instances of actions by
women in the War of 1812, not necessarily only in Illinois. The entire text of
her presentation will be printed in a future issue of The Stalker. Portions of
her presentation follow:
Perhaps like me, what you remember about the War of 1812 is that Dolley Madison
rescued the portrait of George Washington during the British invasion of what
was then called Washington City. And, that at nearby Fort McHenry, Maryland, a
lawyer named Francis Scott Key wrote the poem that is now the words to our
National Anthem.
Even though most of us believe the Revolutionary War ended our reign by
England, in many ways the fledgling United States was still under the thumb of
the King of England. When did the Revolutionary War end? 1783? I submit that it
never really ended until 1815 and the Treaty of Ghent.
Had we lived during the early 1800s, we would know there were many reasons
President Madison was compelled to make this bold step of again going to war
against our Mother Country. For instance:
Now at the time of the War of 1812, Illinois was of course, just a territory.
As far as a military presence, there was one small company of United States
soldiers (35 men) in the territory who were stationed at Fort Russell (present
day Edwardsville) after the fall of Fort Dearborn August 15, 1812.
Poorly prepared companies of militia were being pulled together to try to
protect the people and their livestock. Militia citizen soldiers were
invaluable contributors to the United States forces during the War of 1812.
Regular Army troops could be recognized by their blue and white uniforms.
Members of the militia, on the other hand, were plainly dressed a hunting
shirt, deerskin trousers, boots or moccasins, and a wide brimmed hat. Their
weapons were a muzzle loading smoothbore musket, a hunting knife and even an ax
things they would bring from home. Their weapons were not only for protection,
but for gathering food and constructing shelter. Four companies of U.S. Rangers
were formed from Illinois civilians and former Militiamen.
Living in Illinois Territory in that period were approximately 12,000 men,
women, and children. All of these people lived fairly close to a major river:
the Mississippi, the Ohio, or the Wabash. They were basically all located in
the southern half of what is now the state of Illinois.
There were no major battles in Illinois Territory. There were, however,
significant events that bear remembering. Here are a few:
The War of 1812 lasted nearly three years. The treaty of Ghent was signed in
Belgium on December 24, 1814, but not ratified until February 18, 1815. This
treaty officially ended the war. However, the Battle of New Orleans was fought
after that date because neither side on the Continent had heard of the treaty.
News did not travel fast in those days no email or Facebook!
Indeed, life was anything but easy for ladies in that time period. They would
have planted seeds by hand, tended to, and harvested crops. This included
cotton that was then spun into cloth, which was then made into garments for
their families. And of course the ladies would have cooked the meals, made
soap, and nursed the numerous children in the household. Then in the event of
an attack, they would have been called on to help defend the families.
Depending upon where the family lived, this all may have been done in a
one-room cabin. Life in the early 1800s depended upon what could be grown,
made, or traded.
As Dianne Graves wrote in her book In the Midst of Alarms, The Untold Story of
Women and the War of 1812, "With such a daily workload and frequent
pregnancies it is hardly surprising that many women aged rapidly." The
average woman in that time period spent almost all of her earlier married life
either pregnant or nursing children.
We know for example that between 1812 and 1815, just as during the
Revolutionary War, many women were nurses. Mary Ann Cole was such a person. She
was a hospital matron during the siege of Fort Erie from July to October 1814.
As the American forces inside the fort fought desperately against the British
bombardment, Mary went about her duties preparing meals, dispensing medicine,
and tending to the wounded.
A Mrs. Gillett was alone in her home in Lewiston, New York, with her younger
children while her husband and oldest son were in the militia, a couple
warriors broke in and proceeded to ransack the home and imbibe whisky. Taking
her young children, Mrs. Gillett dashed from the house only to have a warrior
follow her, and kill one of her sons. She was then held prisoner with her two
remaining children. She and the children managed to escape while the guard was
drunk. They headed towards her parent's home 270 miles away. Through the
kindness of strangers, they arrived. Her parents were shocked to see their
daughter in such a deplorable condition.
The women that were in the soldier camps during the War of 1812 were wives of
the soldiers; they were chosen by a lottery system. Only six wives were allowed
in camp for every one hundred soldiers. The women were employed as
seamstresses, nursemaids, laundry maids, and scullery maids.
Mrs. Betsy Doyle was one of the few wives permitted to accompany their husband
and perform menial, but necessary, tasks such as laundry and nursing. If not
for this short reference by the Fort Niagara Commandant, her service may have
been lost. He wrote "a woman named Betsy Doyle attending a six pounder
with ‘red hot shot’ during the most tremendous cannonading I have ever
seen." He wrote "Betsy Doyle acted with the fortitude of the Maid of
Orleans" a reference to Joan of Arc. (The hot shot cannonballs heated red
hot.) As the casualties began to mount, Betsy Doyle carried the red hot
cannonballs from downstairs fireplaces to the artillery atop the exposed top
floor of Fort Niagara. She escaped the fall of Fort Niagara in 1813 and hiked
some 300 miles with her four children, in the dead of winter, to an army camp
near Albany. There she worked as an army nurse until her death in 1819.
In June 1811 (before the official start of the war), here in Illinois
Territory, near what is now the small town of Pocahontas, most members of the
Cox family were out of their cabin picking strawberries. Three Potawatomi
warriors rushed their cabin finding 20 year old Elijah, and his younger sister,
Rebecca. Listen to this description written by Gillum Ferguson in his book "Illinois in the
War of 1812."
"The intruders held the young man screaming on the floor, first slicing
off his scalp and then cutting the heart from his living body. They threatened
his sister with the same fate if she did not turn over the hidden family
savings."
Obviously, Rebecca was terrified, but the determined young girl brought out
just a small portion of the family's funds. The warriors took the money, some
guns, horses, a scalp, and Rebecca and headed back toward Indian Country. When
they met up with some other warriors, they bragged about what they had done,
even mocking Elijah's screams as he died.
Rebecca had to have been traumatized, having witnessed the senseless killing of
her brother in such a barbaric fashion. But Rebecca must have also been a very
level-headed, fast thinking young lady. Unknown to her captors, as they were
travelling, Rebecca tore small pieces from her apron, dropping them behind.
Major William Pruitt and some militia men were following the party, finally
catching up with them about 50 miles north of today's Springfield, Illinois.
There was reluctance to get too close and endanger the captured Rebecca.
However, Rebecca, as Ferguson's book tells us, "took matters into her own
hands, broke away and ran toward her rescuers, suffering tomahawk wounds to the
back and head as she did so." escaping to Major Pruitt and company. She
recovered, married, and moved to Kentucky, where her husband was reportedly
killed by Indians.
William Pursley was a sergeant in Captain Samuel Whiteside's militia company
during the War of 1812. He, his wife Lydia, and their children were living at
Hill's Fort, near Greenville, Bond Co., Illinois.
On September 8, 1814, thirteen men made up of Rangers and civilians left the
fort and were ambushed by a large party of Indians. A fierce battle was fought,
four men were killed and two severely injured. One, Tom Higgins, was near death
fighting three Indians. The powder smoke hung in a heavy cloud over the
hillside. Under cover of the smoke, Tom got to some trees and got his horse,
intent on riding back to the fort to safety. As he was mounting his horse, a
wounded comrade, William Burgess, called out saying, "Please don't leave
me behind." Tom told him to get on the horse and they both could ride. But
Burgess had also been wounded and had a broken leg. Tom tried to help his
friend onto the horse, but the horse spooked and ran away. Seeing this, Lydia
Pursley tried to persuade those inside the fort to go rescue Tom Higgins. The
men told her they could not risk going out because there were too many Indians.
While this discussion was ongoing, the smoke cleared away and more Indians were
running to the aid of their comrade still engaged in combat with the injured
Tom Higgins. Lydia Pursley grabbed her husband's horse and gun and rode out of
the fort to aid Tom and William. Inside the fort, the men, not to be outdone by
a woman, took off after Lydia. They got to Tom and William before the Indians,
threw them over horses, and brought them safely back to the fort. When they
closed the gate, the Indians retreated from the battle.
Women in Illinois during 1812-1815 led a very harrowing existence. We have
stories of many of their heroic actions which you just heard. We cannot let
what these brave men and women did in early Illinois be forgotten.
So if you have an ancestor who served in a militia or as a ranger between 1784
and 1815 in any state, I hope you will consider becoming a member of the US
Daughters of 1812 or the Society of the War of 1812 (the men's organization).
Their service was just important to the freedoms we enjoy today as those whose
service we perpetuate through the DAR.
This presentation was well received and provoked many questions.