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William Divine Claybourn Fifth Child, Second Son, of Ephraim Claybourn 27 August 1819 - 17 February 1896 "He bends his course where twilight reigns sublime.
O'er forests silent since the birth of time." -- Sir Walter Scott
When William was about six years old, his father Ephraim moved the family - which then would have been four girls and three boys - to Liberty, Tennessee. There William received what education he had in a log cabin school. At the age of twenty, on 4 September 1839, he married 18 year old Frances Alla Hawker ("Frankie"). Their son James H. wrote in a letter in 1906, "When father was married at the age of 19, he and his little wife (my mother) soon moved to Illinois where. . . his family was reared. They traveled in covered wagons and some of her people came with The Claybourn-Hawker "wagon train," as it was called, crossed the Ohio River by ferry at Shawneetown, Illinois and the group stayed there for a time. Shawneetown was a lively place with a land office serving a huge domain, a bank, a newspaper, and the first port within Illinois for rafts, flatboats, broadhorns, and the keelboats out of the east. It is possible the family stayed here in order to find permanent land through the land office.
Frankie's family, including her parents Reuben and Nancy, made up the other half of the Claybourn-Hawker "wagon train." The Hawkers were originally from Virginia but lived in DeKalb County, Tennessee, prior to the move to Illinois. The Hawkers and Claybourns were close families. Reuben and Nancy had four children, and many of William and Frankie's descendants bore their names:
Eventually the demand for salt solidified the road's importance. "The builders of Goshen Road looked east, striving toward a place where they could obtain their necessity - salt," wrote historian Barbara Burr Hubbs [6]. Salt was one of the dearest commodities that early settlers had and one of the most difficult to obtain. Settlers at Goshen at one time bought it eagerly for $9 a barrel. Hubbs explains further: "In the east beyond the Ohio, men looked west, striving toward new homes and better living . . . The Goshen Road funneled new residents into Illinois Territory at such a rate, its citizens became ambitious to have a state. They came by horse-drawn wagons, by two-wheeled ox-carts; they rode horses and donkeys and 'shank's mares;' they pushed wheelbarrows and carried their wealth on their backs. But they came and many stayed. Not all went the length of the road, but in 1818 when a census was taken to determine whether the Illinois population was sufficient for statehood, settlers lined the old route. It was a belt settlement from the Ohio at Shawneetown to the Mississippi at Alton . . . All across the state the generation whose fathers had traveled the Goshen Road blessed the men of Goshen who needed salt and built a John Reynolds, later Governor of Illinois, adds, "In the fall of 1808 a wagon road was laid off from Goshen settlement to the Ohio River salt works which in olden times was called The Goshen Famed philosopher Baker Brownell described early Jefferson County this way: "This Southern Illinois country was planned by Nature more to delight rivermen, hunters and fisherman, and folks willing to forego good soil for a house on a hill, than to facilitate. . . the acquisition of wealth. . . These deep-eyed, thin-lipped people were the first to come of those who still remain. . . [They]. . . were rural and mountain folk [who]. . . hacked their way into the magnificent hardwood forests, split rails for fences, rolled the great walnut, oak, elm, beech, sycamore, poplar, locust logs together for burning, piled the brush, and grubbed out farms in the uncertainBrownell notes the soil because the central plateau upon which the county sits is made of a tough, recalcitrant clay pan, so hard to break that the sttlers could not use their wooden plows. Brownell goes on, "Spring is incandescent here; it glows with strange, soft fire. The autumns are golden and still; each tree in its own way a transfiguration. There are more kinds of trees in these few counties than in all of Jefferson County was settled by American stock of several generations. They were not of foreign birth. A hundred years later, it was still the same. By the mid 20th century in Mt. Vernon there were not more than two or three families of Italian derivation and a family of several Greek
The Caseys came next in 1816. Zadok Casey, a prominent Methodist member of Congress from Illinois (1833-1841), began his life in what became Jefferson County with a camp fire beside a massive log in (now) Shiloh Township. When he came, he brought his wife and child on one horse. He walked beside them with his rifle on his shoulder. He had no one to help him build a pole cabin. Later his substantial home, Elm Hill, was built west of Mt. Vernon village on the site of what is now Zadok Casey Middle School. The Maxeys, antecedents of Harriet Maxey Claybourn (William Divine's second wife), were among the next group of settlers to come. A party of 21 people led by William Maxey, age 48, left Gallatin, Tennessee, 20 April 1818, crossed the Ohio at Cave-in-Rock, and followed the Old Goshen Trail until they reached the Moore cabin, four miles southeast of the present town of Belle Rive. David Crenshaw and Carter Wilkey had moved into Moore's deserted cabin and farmed in 1816. They were related by marriage to the Maxeys and were there when the Maxey party arrived. They spent the first summer there in Moore's Prarie but were persuaded by Zadok Casey to move up near his settlement that fall, and William Maxey settled on land adjoining Casey on the east. This was about three miles northwest of what is now Mt. Vernon. William Maxey aquired the land from the government in 1825, and it remained in possession of the Maxey family for four generations and over 100 years. Illinois became a state and Jefferson County was organized in the year 1818, with Zadok Casey serving as was one of the Commissioners. William Casey, whose home was where the post office now stands, was the nephew of Zadok Casey. William donated 20 acres of his land to be laid off in lots and sold for the purpose of paying for public buildings in Jefferson County. The town leaders advertised this sale in the Illinois Emigrant in Shawneetown and sent handbills over the county. There were only six families in the Mt. Vernon area at that time, but about 100 persons showed up to buy lots around a little clearing in the woods, staked out with mulberry posts, which was to be the public square surrounding the courthouse.
The first courthouse was an 18 x 20 foot log building with one door and one window and no fireplace because one was not stipulated in the contract. It cost $85. There it stood in the midst of a great forest, but it was the beginning. Except for the death of Andrew Moore, these pioneers of Jefferson County were not bothered by the Indians, although in 1818-19 a group of Delaware Indians passed through the county on their way to western reservations. A party of about 600 camped on Horse Creek for several months in Farrington Township, the area where Harriette Threkeld's mother was born some sixty years later. Mt. Vernon was officially incorporated on 10 February 1837 with a population of 150. It had 6 stores, three taverns and an inn. On the present North 11th Street, one half block from Main Street and on the west side of the street (just back of the present City Hall), the first church for Mt. Vernon was built. Its original sandstone foundations remained until it was demolished in the 1930's. A small church was built for the Methodists in 1834 and enlarged in 1839. The building retained its original architectural lines and had a window in the shape of a cross in the west end. Wrought iron nails were used. Governor Casey presented the church with a bell in 1840 which is believed to be the one used by the United Brethren Church in later days. The principal business in early Mt. Vernon was the gathering of deer skins which were shaved and sent to the market in St. Louis. Mt. Vernon did not become a wagon road center until 1844. In 1830 the population of Jefferson County was 2,555, but by 1840 when the Claybourns came, it had grown to 5,762. It was no longer the wilderness the Maxeys found. In 1850 Mt. Vernon had a population of 300, but more than doubled to 707 by 1860, the beginning of the Civil War. By 1900, Mt. Vernon had 5,216 people and was recovering from the destruction of the tornado that struck in 1888. Historian William Perrin says that William D. Claybourn came in "about 1840" from Tennessee and settled in Field Township, one of the earliest settlers in that William's land in Field Township totaled one hundred and sixty If one stands on the road near the railroad tracks and looks north across the bottoms to the wooded bluff, he is looking toward the site. The farm stretches for a mile and a half along the Dix to Divide Road and was cut by the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad when it was built. The township was to have been called Claybourn instead of Field, but there was another township in the state by that name. Eula Osborn said she thought the name Texico was made up from initials of different families living in that area. All of the original farm is on the north side of the road. The village is built on the original farm. . . The cabin had two rooms and a loft above where later the boys slept.Later a road was built and the cabin was moved to it. The children attended Beehive School (later called Upper Hawkins). According to Perrin, the first school house built in Field Township was built on Big Muddy on the McCrary farm and was a log cabin 16' square with slab seats, puncheon floor and an old time Like many men during this era, William served in the Civil War with his children and fought against southern relatives. He served in a company organized at Centralia known afterwards as Noleman's Cavalry. Eventually it became Company H of the First Illinois Cavalry. (Further accounts of that company's activities are available in his son James Harrison's biography.) William joined the company July 10, 1861, at Cairo, Illinois, and was mustered in seven days later on July 7, 1861. His term of service was relatively short and lasted only for about one year, being mustered out as a Corporal on July 5, 1862, at St. Louis. An old photostat listing (whose current whereabouts are unknown) is headed "Centralia Cavalry Company," stationed at Memphis, At the bottom of the photostat under "History," it reads, "Organized at Centralia, Illinois, and mustered into service of the United States on the 14th of June, 1861 (for the period of one year). Bushwacked and jayhawked among the swamps of southeast Missouri for 12 months, capturing 167 prisoners, 209 horses and mules, shotguns, rifles, and toothpicks innumerable; cramping nothing larger than a steamboat or smaller than a grindstone." Lieutenant Tuft's account of this unit's participation in the Battle of Beckwith Farm was recorded in good detail in the official records of the Union This 12 month span was the extent of William Divine's military service. After all, he had a large family at home which needed care. In 1857 the oldest daughter Catherine, or "Kit," married Joe Boggs who was killed in the Civil War. The other children were all married after the war. James and Bill served out the remainder of the war and the next son John served with the 136th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, enlisting when he was 17 in 1863. Still at home were the younger children, four boys and two girls.
By the time the house was completed it had two stories with two large rooms above and two below. It faced west and was left standing in a field in later years after the road from Dix to Divide was changed and passed along the south boundary of Wm. D.'s original farm, just as it does today. The northwest room was the sitting room and had a fireplace in the east end. There was a fairly wide hall with a stairway to the second floor, and a large bedroom on the south. A one-story part of the house ran straight back along the north side and contained three rooms, including the dining room and kitchen. Most people entered by the north door from the road running along the north side at that time. The house was built of oak clapboard and cut, most likely, from the farm. The windows were symmetrically placed, and there was an attractive front door with small panes of glass on either side. The kitchen had a large fireplace and wide-board hardwood floors. A porch ran along the south side of the one story part. There were many trees in the yard.
"The Big House" remained standing until the 1930's.
A year and a half later, on 14 February 1865, William Divine married Ms. Elizabeth Starnes Maxey (1828 - 1910), whose brother Sam married war-widowed Catherine ("Aunt Kit"). Lizzie, as Elizabeth was called, was the daughter of Francis Starnes of Virginia. Lizzie had five children of her own prior to marrying William: Melissa V. Another relative who lived there part of the time during the war was a nephew of William D., the son of his brother John who lived in Arkansas. James H. Claybourn in 1919 wrote, "John H. Claybourn. . . was captured and brought north where he took the oath of allegiance and was released from prison and came to our house and stayed until the war was over." We also know that William D.'s brother John B. and his wife Perlina lived in Jefferson County in 1866 for a time and undoubtedly came first to the big house where the son John H. had been staying. Smallness of stature was a Claybourn characteristic, and William D. was a small man who in adult life always wore a long, full beard. In later years he suffered from a cancer on his lip which was the ultimate cause of his death. His son James accompanied him to Chicago at one time for treatment. All of the family loved to sing, and his granddaughter, Eula Osborn, says that when William was old and sick from the cancer and could not work, he sat on the porch and sang, and one could hear from him clear across the fields.
William Divine is buried at Jordan Chapel Cemetery beside Frances Hawker Claybourn. His gravestone bears the words, "A friend of his country, a believer in Christ," a sentiment also carved on his brother-in-law's gravestone. About thirty six Claybourns and connections are buried at Jordan Chapel. Elizabeth Starnes Maxey Claybourn ("Lizzie") outlived William Divine, and when the big house was sold, she lived in a small house closer to Texico vilage. Lizzie died in January of 1910 at the age of 82 and was buried at Pleasant Grove beside her first husband.
The descendants of William Divine Claybourn now number in the hundreds and are spread far over the country. Of his seventeen children, thirteen grew to maturity. They are as follows (click names for separate biographical sketches):
References and Notes
[1] Claybourn, Verner M., and Harriette Pinnell Threlkeld. The Claybourn Family (A-1 Business Service, 1959).
[2] Bethel was probably named for the Dr. Bethel of Liberty. It is not a coincidence that one of William Divine's children was named John Bethel. [3] Frankie was born on 23 September 1820 in Tennessee, and died 25 July 1863, in Jefferson County, Illinois. [4] Harrison was born 24 September 1835, in Tennessee. He died 8 April 1891, in Jefferson County, Illinois. He is buried at the Limestone Church and Cemetery (now Pleasant Hill) south of Dix. His gravestone bears the words, "A friend of his country, a believer in Christ," a sentiment also carved on William Divine's stone. He married Susan Carpenter on 6 March 1857. Susan was born in Wilson County, Tennessee, near Liberty, in 1834. They were married by Rev. William Maxey. Susan had come to Illinois in 1840 at the age of six years old, but eventually moved to the vicinity of Celest, Texas, near Greenville, in about 1900. Nevertheless, she is buried at Limestone beside her husband. She died 20 September 1907. [5] Polly married Fount Garrison. They had daughters named Tennessee and Virginia and one named America who married a man named Short; Jennie who married an Osborn and apparently lived in Texas. The boys were named John and Pleasant Garrison, and they lived near Texico. [6] Egyptian Key, 1949. This was published bi-monthly from 1943-1950. [7] Id.. [8] Reynolds, John. The Pioneer History of Illinois. 2nd ed. (Chicago: Fergus Printing Company, 1887). [9] Claybourn, Verner M., and Harriette Pinnell Threlkeld. The Claybourn Family (A-1 Business Service, 1959). [10] Brownell, Baker. The Other Illinois (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1958) [11] Id. [12] Claybourn, Verner M., and Harriette Pinnell Threlkeld. The Claybourn Family (A-1 Business Service, 1959). [13] Perrin, William. History of Jefferson County. (Chicago, 1883). [14] In the Jefferson County Courthouse, Book 81, Page 270, is a copy of the Land Patent of William D.'s farm. In the Index to Deeds in the Circuit Clerk's office under Grantors S to Z, From 1 Jan. 1828, to 31 Dec. 1947, the Grantor is the United States Government to William D. Claybourn. The Patent states that William, in accordance with the Land Act of 24 April 1820, had paid in full to the land office at Shawneetown for one hundred and sixty acres, described thus: "The east half of the Northwest Quarter and the south half of the Northeast Quarter of Section 17, Township 1 South Range 3 East of the third Principal Meridian in Fields Township, Jefferson County, Illinois." It is signed by Franklin Pierce, President of the United States, and the instrument is dated 1 March 1855. [15] Perrin, William. History of Jefferson County. (Chicago, 1883). [15] Claybourn, Verner M., and Harriette Pinnell Threlkeld. The Claybourn Family (A-1 Business Service, 1959). [16] Claybourn, Verner M., and Harriette Pinnell Threlkeld. The Claybourn Family (A-1 Business Service, 1959). [17] Scott, Robert N. and Henry M. Lazelle. The War Of The Rebellion: A Compilation Of The Official Records Of The Union And Confederate Armies, Series I Volume XXII In Two Parts. (Washington: Government Printing Office), 1888. This account is also available here. [18] Id. [19] Melissa married a Fields and lived at Dix. [20] Laura married William Myers and lived at Texico. [21] Mary married Hiram Maxfield and lived in Centralia. [22] William lived in Kinmundy. [23] The Daily Register of Tuesday, 18 February 1896. [24] Perrin, William. History of Jefferson County. (Chicago, 1883). |
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