by David McKelvey | Feb 28, 2014 | Newspapers, Biographies, Blacks
This is from the Herald Tribune Newspaper. (reprinted in the Randolph County Genealogy Society’s Quarterly “Trails”) Robert Higgins – enjoying more than local fame as a hunter, moved from the vicinity of Kaskaskia to a place about two miles...
by David McKelvey | Feb 28, 2014 | Biographies
In 1872, Henry Herschbach established a wagon factory in Chester. This industry became a very important one, and many an older person in southern Illinois recalls the farm wagons with the name “Chester” painted proudly on the side of the wagon box.
by David McKelvey | Feb 7, 2014 | Biographies
In 1839, the Cole Brothers began construction of a flour mill. This business prospered, and milling began to be a principal industry. The Cole’s have left their imprint upon the town.
by David McKelvey | Feb 7, 2014 | Biographies
John Clendenin, a Revolutionary War Veteran, was also an early settler on the site of present day Chester. His son, James Clendenin, settled near Rockwood, where his descendants yet live.
by David McKelvey | Feb 7, 2014 | Biographies
Mr. Capman – Many an early settler aspired to lay out a town. A man named Capman did that in 1842 and called the place Randolph. His town did not prosper and in 1859, had only a store and blacksmith shop. Shortly after this village had been platted, German...
by David McKelvey | Feb 7, 2014 | Biographies
Jacob Bowerman came to ply his several skills. Jacob was emphatically not a “jack at all trades and good at none.” If tradition and the meager written records are to be believed, he was a competent gunsmith, blacksmith, cabinet maker, farmer, builder,...
by David McKelvey | Feb 7, 2014 | Biographies
Shadrach Bond. There were two Shadrach Bond’s prominent in local history. The elder one was among the earlier Americans to settle in and to give the name American Bottoms to a territory lying along the river north of Chester. A second Shadrach Bond, nephew of...
by David McKelvey | Feb 7, 2014 | Biographies
Mr. Boisbriant – Prairie du Rocher was founded shortly after the building of Fort Chartres, on a tract of land granted to Mr. Boisbriant. In 1743, the Prairie du Rocher commons were granted to the village. This village and that of Kaskaskia had many similarities...
by David McKelvey | Jan 18, 2014 | Biographies
Cornhill Ballard – Cornhill sounds odd for a man’s given name. By the work in which he engaged, partly lived up to his given name.(What Cornhill and blacksmith have in common, is unknown) He became one of the early blacksmiths in the Sparta region where he...
by David McKelvey | Jan 18, 2014 | Biographies
Alexander Barber came from Ohio to Randolph County in 1805. He was a capable and energetic man with a particular skill in building mills. For many years, his services were sought after, by those wishing to establish an industry of this type. After construction of...
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