This is my first time on this list and I haven't recognized any messages to me. I hope that this message isn't off-topic. I have a request for help about my Coombs family, and I am including a description of Columbia and Waterloo as Isaiah Moses Coombs wrote about them in his history. My great-grandfather, Isaiah Moses Coombs was born in Columbia, in 1834 to Mark Anthony (sometimes known just as Anthony) Coombs and Maria Morgan. Mark Anthony was born in Maine but Maria was also born in Columbia in 1815. She and Mark Anthony eloped to Carondonlet, Missouri to get married in 1831. My source of information is a journal and a family history left by Isaiah Moses. It appears that he exaggerated some of his information and I would like some confirming data, if possible. Could you please let me know what might still be available for Columbia and Morgan and Coombs families. We think Maria's father, Arthur Morgan came from Kentucky, but I don't have any real records to that effect. What Columbia and Waterloo looked like in the 1850s Columbia, Monroe County, Illinois This is taken from the autobiography of Isaiah Moses Coombs, who was born in Columbia, Monroe County, Illinois, 21 March 1834. His father was Mark Anthony Coombs who was born in Islesborough, Waldo, Maine, and his mother was Maria Morgan, who was born in Columbia on 1 March, 1815. Her father was Arthur Morgan and Sarah Talbot who were from Kentucky. Isaiah describes Columbia as it was in his childhood days (about 1845?): " In those days, Columbia was but a small village and the country in its vicinity was sparsely settled and we had no railroad nearer than St. Louis which was 13 miles distant, and our nearest market. At that early day the subject od education was but little appreciated in out-of-the-way places like Columbia, and it was but seldom that we could boast of a right good school. Good school teachers were not likely to halt there for more than three or four months before they would pass on in search of a more appreciative community and better pay. As a consequence our school was constantly changing hands, a new teacher almost every six months, and with him a new system or more frequently no system at all. . . . When I was about 13 years old an Irishman by the name of P. H. Dixon came to our town and opened a school. He was younger son of a nobleman and had been educated for a Catholic Priest. Through some love intrigue however, his father cut him off with a shilling and sent him adrift on the wide world. To this man and to the one who succeeded him in our school I am indebted for much of my limited education. I must say however that the best ordered school I ever attended was taught by a New England lady, a Miss Cleghorn, afterwards Mrs. Gardner. She was not only a good teacher, but a splendid disciplinarian. She secured the affection of her pupils and ruled them in love. No birch sticks or leather straps disgraced her school room, no angry words or loud threats were heard, all was gentleness, peace, order, and with very few exceptions, hard study. The family lived in Upper Alton and in Monticello for a while; daughter Mary Jones Coombs was born in Alton in 1836, son Hyrum Coombs was born in Monticello in 1838. They were back in Columbia when son John Coombs was born in 1840. "In those days there was but one church in Columbia that could boast a meeting house and that was the Methodist Church. Nearly all my mother's relations belonged to that church, and inface nearly everybody in the country were connected with it. They had their two days' meetings, camp meetings, revivals, etc. and I used to attend all of them. . . . : "Waterloo in those days was a thriving little town considering that it was twney one miles from market and was inhabited almost exclusively by an agricultural community. It could boast of four churches, viz: the Methodist, Baptist, Catholic and Dutch Reformed, five or six stores, about the same number of groc. shops, a printing office, two grist mills and eight or ten lawyers." Om 1854 he was back in Columbia. Columbia by this time was quite a large town; could boast three churches, the Catholic, Methodist and Lutheran; three school houses, two grist mills, three stores, tailor shops, etc. The population was about evenly divided, one half Americans and one half Germans, . . . . I have copie

The following describes what I know of my Monroe County forebears. Hopefully someone will recognize the family, and offer additional information. Monroe County land records include an 1848 town lot purchase by Thomas Davis. He presumably was a newcomer to the county, as he was not enumberated in Monroe County at the time of the 1845 Illinois census. The federal census of 1850 shows Davis living in Columbia with his wife, Mary. He was listed as age fifty, born in Illinois, a carpenter. His wife, Mary, was sixteen. Thomas M. Davis, a widower, and Mary Duvall had been married earlier in the year by Reverend William Cliff, a Methodist minister at Waterloo. During the following four years Davis bought several pieces of property near Columbia, and in January of 1854 leased 100 acres of land. The couple's only child was born on March 26, and named James Bissell Davis. Thomas died during the summer of 1854. His father-in-law, Washington Duvall, also of Columbia, was named administrator of the estate, which for some reason did not include the property purchased and/or leased in the previous six years, nor does county records reflect disposal of the property. Thomas may have been the child of either James Davis, or Richard Davis, as they were the only Davis' enumerated in the Illinois Territory, at the time of the 1807 census. His widow, Mary Duvall Davis, remarried, and is listed with the Davis child, her new husband, William Stone, and their one-month old child, Julia, in the 1860 census for Columbia. As in 1850, her family lived a few doors from her parents, Washington and Ann Duvall. By the census of 1870, the family had grown, and included William Stone, age 38, born in Tennessee; Mary, age 36, born in Virginia; James Bissell Davis, age 16; Julia, age 10, George, age 7; Mary, age 5, and a new-born. Mary's mother, Ann, had died, however, and Washington Duvall had in 1866 married Melvina (Patterson) Agneu, also of Monroe County. Mary (Duvall/Davis) Stone died ca 1872, presumably at Columbia. Her father shortly thereafter moved to St. Francois County, Missouri. He died there in 1882, and is buried at Salem Methodist Cemetery, Ste. Genevieve. Mary's husband, William Stone, raised their children, and joined by his younger sister, Mary Anne, remained at Columbia, dying there ca 1902. William and Mary's daughter, Julia, also died ca 1902. Separately, the 1850 census shows William Montgomery, age 31, born in Ohio, living at Centerville, St. Clair County. The following year, William married Matilda Jane Smith, at Mounds Methodist Episcopal Church - South, at St. Louis, Missouri. In 1860, the census for Monroe County shows William and Matilda at Waterloo, where William was employed as constable. Their family then included John , age 7 (born at Waterloo), and Martha, age 3. The Stone and Montgomery families come together in 1897 with the marriage of John Montgomery and Julia Stone. Any additional nformation relating to the Davis, Stone, or Montgomery families would be very much appreciated. Tom Davis

I am looking for a Lutheran Church in Monroe Co that had a pastor by the name of Theodore Horn in 1860. My Gr Gr grandfather had a certificate of confirmation dated April 15, 1860 issued by Rev Theodore Horn and written in the Danish language. Does anybody know what church this would be? Thanks for any help. Jennifer [email protected]

Hello: Further to my query re Thomas M. Davis, and a possible Bissell relationship, I note that a Joseph Davis was a resident of Monroe County at least between 1840 and 1860, based on a reading of the respective census'. Joseph apparently also was born in Illinois at an early time, as the census of 1860 gives his age at 52, and birth in Illinois. Joseph Davis' family included his wife, Elizabeth Baxter, born 1807, also in Illinois; and two daughters: Lucinde, and Mary, born 1845 and 1851, in Illinois. Joseph and Elizabeth had been married in 1841, apparently a second marriages for each, given their respective ages. Any information about Joseph Davis and Elizabeth Baxter would be much appreciated. Tom Davis

Hello: The 1807 Indiana Territorial Census, for Randolph County, Illinois Territory, lists only two Davis': James and Richard, and one Bissell: Daniel. My great grandfather, Thomas M. Davis, was born in Illinois in 1799/1800. He named a son James Bissell Davis, leading me to believe Thomas may have been a son of either James or Richard Davis, and that his mother may have been a Bissell. Does anyone have any information relating to the three men, or to any Davis/Bissell family known to have been in Illinois before 1807? Thanks in advance for any related information. Tom Davis

Who are the ancestors and siblings of Hiram WHITESIDE b. 24 May 1842 (probably in Monroe Co.) and d. 23 Aug 1926 at Leslie, MO. He is buried at Soules Chapel Cem., Ebo, MO. Who are the ancestors and siblings of Hiram's wife, Emma Bertha BRANDT. She was b. 13 Jun 1852, d. 24 Nov 1923 at Ebo, MO and also buried at Soules Chapel Cem. Hiram and Bertha had five daughters born in Waterloo in the 1860s and 1870s. The entire family moved to Crawford County, MO, where the girls went to school and were married. The daughters were: Ella m. John Dietrich; Minnie R. (1865-1948) m. Darwin F. Boles; Emma m. William Crowder; Anna Margaret (1875-1958) m. Francis Marion DeClue; and Fannie m. Samuel Price Smith. Bertha's nephew, Jim Brandt (1881-1957), lived with the family. I'd appreciate any leads and will be glad to share my research. Laura in MO

Hi! I am a new list member, so I hope I'm posting this correctly. I am searching for information on the family of Herman Drury, b. 1893, d. 1974. Died in Waterloo, IL. Had a brother named Henry Drury who was a sheriff in IL, he was shot during a bank robbery and disabled. Herman Drury m. Genevieve Gidley. Herman was of French descent, and was 1st or 2nd generation American. Any information would be really helpful. Thanks! Andie