Hi All, Are there any descendants of Joseph HENSLEY among those on this list? I think the one listed below, is the grandfather of my mother's grandmother (Amelia HENSLEY b. 1 Aug 1857 Marion Co., IL. The medical problems of Amelia and her descendants is especially interesting to me. I believe that Amelia's father was William W. HENSLEY. Kay Chestnut Hood River, Oregon > >SOURCE: FOOTPRINTS OF MARION COUNTY - FALL 1987 OUT OF PRINT EDITION; VOL. >12, NO. 2 >PAGE 65: (PREVIOUSLY POSTED TO GROUP) >THE COUNTY'S FIRST CENSUS >Following is one of George ROSS' newspaper columns. > > It was on January 24, 1823, that Gov. Edward COLES signed the >legislation creating Marion County. Brink-McDonough's history states, "The >fortunate discovery of the first county census, taken by R.C. CHANCE in the >autumn of 1825 and filed with the clerk of the county on the 26th of >November of the said year, renders it possible to give our readers a >complete list of the early residents of the county. We here introduce the >names of the heads of families and call the attention of the reader to >other interesting incidents. > > "Samuel HUFF; Isaac McCLELLAND - a member of the county board (1836-38 >and 1842-48) and associate county judge 1857-61, died March 18, 1881, aged >81; Eli McKINNEY; James MARTIN; Samuel MARTIN - owner of a horse mill; >James YOUNG, son of Samuel, the first settler; Matthew YOUNG, brother of >James; Aaron HICKS - member of the first county board, contacted for and >built the first courthouse; Ebenezer DAGGETT; Henry LEE; Dorcas TULLY; >Christiana TULLY; Malachi WARE; Michael RADCLIFFE; William CARRIGAN; D.R. >CHANCE, of the first justices-of-the-peace and the census commissioner in >1825; Henry WALKER; William TAYLOR; Simon ALBERT; Richard PILES; William >ALBERT; Hardy FOSTER - a native of Georgia, township and village named for >him, county commissioner and member of the legislature, died in 1864; >Thomas NEAL - removed to Effingham County, lost his life by accident, being >crushed to death by a wagon in 1854; John S. DAVIS; Thomas FULTON; William >KING; Darrington BALDRIDGE (Footprints Editor's Note: His correct given >name was Dornton.); William PURSLEY; John DAVIDSON; Samuel DAVIDSON; Green >DEPRIEST; John WARREN; Robert NICHOLS; James PILES; Henry McDONALD; Jesse >GRIFFIN; William GUNNERSON; John W. NICHOLS; William MARSHALL - first >justice-of-the-peace, county surveyor and member of the legislature from >1830 to 1834; Joseph HENSLEY - justice-of-the-peace for many years and >owner of a horse mill; Isam WATSON; Robett (this is the spelling in >Footprints) SNODGRASS; John WILSON - was called 'St. John'; John PHELPS; >John EDDINGTON; Montgomery INGRAM; Nathan HUFF - removed to Texas in 1859; >Jesse NICHOLS; Zadoc PHELPS; Henry C. NICHOLS; Rubus RICKER - county clerk, >circuit clerk, probate judge, postmaster and innkeeper; Leonard P. PILES; >Mark TULLY - owner of a horse mill, first coroner, collector adn sheriff, >county commissioner, and contractor for the building of the second >court-house; John TULLEY; William NICHOLS - owner of a horse mill and a >slave holder; Thoams ASH - revolutionary soldier, North Carolina >continentals, pensioned 1833; Robert NICHOLS; George KELL; William GASTON; >Henry RODES; Jacob FULFER; Mary GALETON; William INGRAM; Cowles DUNHAM; >Isaac FULFER; William BALDWIN; Patrick COWEN; David FULTON; Abraham ROMINE >- county commissioner, Romine Township named after him; James GOUDY; Rosana >FULTON; John BOUCHER; Cartsworth P. BLACK; Samuel EBLEN - revolutionary >soldier, private Virginia continentals, pensioned April 12, 1834; John >EBLEN: Israel JENNINGS - a slave holder and member of the legislature; >Caswell WANTERES; Robert BANDY; Dorcas BANDY; J.P. GAINES; Jacob ALBERT; >Samuel SHOOK; Lete DUNKIN (Letitia DUNCAN probably); Nathaniel LITTERAL >(LUTTRELL, a revolutionary soldier); Alfred RAY; Henry WARE; William >TULLEY; Pegg BROCK; Thomas HOW - hunter and a fiddler; Solomon ALLEN; >Benjamin VERMILLION; Frederick PHELPS; John LITTLE; Thomas PARTENSON; >Daniel PHELPS; Wily BURTON; G. BURTON - a blacksmith; Lodrick PHELPS; John >COLES; Robert MAN; Polly McKINNEY; Charles RADCLIFF; Josiah FYKE and Mr. >ROGERS." > > There were one hundred and four heads of families, including five >widows, with a total population of five hundred and fifty-seven, of which >two hundred and seventy-three were white males, two hundred and eighty-two >white women, one black man and one white woman - both slaves. Brinkerhoff >wrote, "At this time there were but one hundred and seventeen voters in teh >county. Money was scarce and stock low in price, a good cow not being >worth more than from six to ten dollars, and horses from twenty to forty >dollars; hogs at two cents per pound were considered well sold., and grain >in proportion. Of the entire population, only one was a blacksmith - G. >BURTON, who was a blacksmith - all the rest were farmers and more or less >hunters, both as pasttime and as a means of adding to the family larder." >These people had principally come from the southern states - Tennessee, >Kentucky, the Carolinas, and Virginia; a few from Ohio and Pennsylvania. >Even though they came from teh south and with the system of slavery still >tolerated in this state, there was scarcely any slavery in the county at >the time of the census from whcih Brink-McDonough infers that the >population was drawn from the poorer class of the states mentioned. >Ninety-five of the one hundred families recorded remained squatters of the >land for many years. Scarcely any land entries were made between 1823 and >1836. "How these people whose worldly possessions did not average $27 per >head, came to burden themselves with the expense of a county >administration, is a question to which we could not find an answer, nor >even an explanation," summarized Brink-McDonough. > >Sources: (1) Brink-McDonough "Combined History of Marion and Clinton >Counties," 1881; (2) Brinkerhoff "History of Marion County," 1909" >