Forwarded by request: -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Little Egypt Heritage, Vol 1, #1 Date: Sun, 01 Sep 2002 23:36:21 -0400 From: Bill Oliver <[email protected]> Organization: NEGenWeb/OHGenWeb/IL AGHP/ALHN Projects To: [email protected], [email protected] Little Egypt Heritage, Stories of Southern Illinois 1 September 2002 Vol 1 #1 ISBN: being applied for Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen of the Southern Illinois region known as Little Egypt, This begins the third series of articles I write to honor the heritage of my ancestors. The first series was and is about the prairies of Nebraska. The second series is about the Black Swamp of northwestern oHIo. Now this series about the Little Egypt of southern Illinois. My paternal roots lie in southern Illinois. My Father was born in Marion, Williamson county in 1910. I first heard the term "Little Egypt" from him. He always used the term "Little Egypt", except when he used the term "Bloody Williamson". And that I thought was a variation on a British cussword. :) [I explain that because we once lived on the Island of Bermuda when I was but a tad of a lad, where "bloody" was exactly a word which could get your mouth washed with soap.] The region known as Little Egypt does contain many place names associated with the Egypt of the Nile River in North Africa. An example is Cairo, at the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Other examples are Thebes on the Mississippi, Alexander [after Alexandria] the southernmost Illinois county, and Karmak on the railroad line. As a tad of a lad, Grandma Oliver would tell us our heritage. We would listen and when I began my trip down the river of genealogy, I learned a whole new geography. I tried to find Kay-ro, Illinois and Bye-ennie and such places. Grandma didn't use the same rules of pronunciation that I had learned in school. :) I was "raised" in the Black Swamp region of northwestern oHIo. Now Mom didn't raise a dummy because I finally figured out that Grandma was talking about Vienna and Cairo ... it just took thirty years. :) My Dad's cousin from California thought the region was named Little Egypt because it reminded people of Egyptian wet lands. He was from Sulphur Springs ... errr ... Creal Springs. In 1818, John G Comergys, a St Louis businessman, was instrumental in incorporating the city of Cairo. One source says that the city was so named because its site resembled that of Cairo, Egypt, and thus was born the name "Egypt" as the popular name of southern Illinois. There is one explanation that I dearly love. That is the analogy that in 1821, like the "brethren of Joseph", the central Illinoisians had to go down into southern Illinois to get corn because of the draught in their region. Johnson county was the home of Grandma Oliver. She lived in Boles and Cypress. Well, Johnson county was a pretty big place originally. Then in September 1812 Governor Ninian Edwards, along with Territorial Judges, Alexander Stewart, Jesse B Thomas, and Stanley Griswold, acting as the Legislature, defined Johnson county as "beginning at the mouth of Lusk Creek [on the Ohio River] thence with a line of Gallatin to Big Muddy thence down Big Muddy and the Mississippi to the Ohio River, and up the Ohio to the beginning". That included the present counties of Alexander, Pulaski, Massac, Johnson, Union and parts of Pope, Williamson, Saline and Jackson counties. One must remember that the Northwest Territory of old was governed by such bodies of men mentioned above until formal political structures could be formed. The appointed Governor and Judges were the first forms of Territorial Governments. Prior to this settlers were the law unto themselves. In this region settled the OLIVERs from Christian county, Kentucky; the McMAHANs from the same county; the TAYLORs again from Christian county; the BENSONs from Virginia and maybe Maryland; the CRENSHAWs from Virginia and North Carolina; the CARRAKERs from North Carolina; the HOFFNERs, also from North Carolina; and maybe, the TURNERs. Also, came the HARPERs from Tennessee. Collateral families of SLACKs, KUYKENDALs, HOWELLs, SUTLIFFs, HAHS', WHITTENBERGs, to name just a few. My roots are deep in the area. I have found grave stones of ancestors in every township in present day Johnson county, and, of course, other relatives are marked by stones in many places south of modern day I-70. Some of my ancestor families were hunter-farmers, some were just farmers. They became miners or railroaders or street car drivers in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Crane operators in Toledo, Ohio. Some went to work in the steel mills up "north". Some migrated to California to become civil servants and lawyers. I imagine, just like your families, the descendants of my Johnson county ancestors are in nearly all the lower forty-eight, and in many other places in the world. Well, this is enough to begin. These heritage stories should be posted to this list and maybe a couple of others each Sunday evening. I hope you like them and find them useful. Wado [Sincerely], Bill -=-