Genealogy & Family History Community
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Leave the blood feuds at home
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The key to the understanding of any society lies in the observation and analysis of the insignificant and the mundane.
~ David Bradley, "The Chaneysville Incident"
This past December the last of my "Country Roads, Old Bones" diaries stirred our very own
fenway49's interest enough that he did a bit of research (for which I will be eternally grateful) and, in the comments, linked to a book that he thought would interest me. That book was
Old Hurricane Church: Primitive Baptist of Montgomery County, Illinois whose cemetery I had just visited and written about. As good fortune would have it, Chicago's Newberry Library owns a copy and allows photos of its pages to be taken.
Except for a few background paragraphs below, I've chosen to let the writings speak for themselves. I do hope, of course, that some discussion can be had in the comments.
This material comes from reproduced church minute books and spans the period from 1809 until 1918. Illinois had just become a State in March of 1809 and President Jefferson wasted no time in sending out a survey team to assess the land for its natural resources, to deal with any lingering British, and to report back on the desirability of the land and climate for settlement. The first minutes are dated April 1818.
At the beginning of the survey notes are the names of the three rivers in the area: Ocar (sometimes Okaw) was/is another name used, mostly in the early days, for the Kaskaskia River. Sangawa refers to what is now called the Sangamon River. The Illinois remains the Illinois.
The survey note comment, "Nov ground shook springs roiled," must have referred either to a small precursor (for which I can find no evidence) to the December 1811 New Madrid Earthquake or "Not Capt. but Brother Isaac Hill" was at the time, or in the writing, a little off with his dates. Had he thought it was still November when, in fact, several weeks had passed and December had arrived? I suspect he had.
Most of the members of this church were recently removed from Kentucky; others from Tennessee. None of them were new to the frontier, many having pulled up stakes and moved, mainly west and north, several times previously. Life for them was a daily struggle. They struggled with the elements. They struggled within their own families. They struggled with other churches. They struggled with what place "others" should have in the church and the community. They dealt with many of these struggles on meeting day when rules were set and punishments meted out.
Some of what you will read here is not pretty. I am always offended by the lack of regard, often outright hatred, my people had for non-whites. History isn't always what we might wish it to be, though, is it?
Be sure not to miss the opening note, at the very top of the first page. That we have any original source material to study at all has always been one of things that satisfies me most about genealogy.
So what are we waiting for.....
So there you have it. Almost 100 years of trying to civilize the civilized and the battle raged on.
I apologize for the wavy lines and hope none of you got seasick. It was quite a challenge to snap the photos at the same time I was trying to hold the book open and somewhat flat. I am also sorry that some of the edges are cut off but I think it's easy enough to infer the missing words. I await you in the comments. Thanks for stopping by.