Hezekiah West ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- "Perhaps the most famous of all the Cache settlers was Hezekiah West. He was born in 1763 in Frederick County, Maryland. It is said that his father was descended from an English family that included a Colonia governor of Virginia. The family finally settled in South Carolina in 1770. The father, John, died in the American Revolution and soon after, Hezekiah, at the age of 17 years, joined the Continental Army in South Carolina. After his marriage to Priscilla Osborn, he settled in the West Eden Community about 1810-1811. He was instrumental in the early government of Johnson County and became a delegate to the Constitutional Convention at Kaskaskia when Illinois gained its statehood. He thought the area in which he settled was so beautiful and he being a religious man, call the area "Eden." It later became known as West's Eden and eventually West Eden. He purchased land in the area in 1818 upon which he already lived and continued on there until his death, raising a large family and influencing all with his religious convictions as long as he lived and even afterward through his children. His home was on the eighty acre site where Violet McClellan lives, just south of the West Eden Methodist Church." BACK TO WEST GENEALOGY West Site established 1998 by Andrea at WayWard Cats Studio. MYTHOS: HISTORY, GENEALOGY, STORYTELLING | HISTORY | GENEALOGY | STORIES | BIBLIOGRAPHY | LINKS | HOME | Mythos established 17 June 1997 Last updated 15 February 1999 Graphics by Trajectories Studios Contents and Graphics copyright ©1999, Mythos and Trajectories Studios Comments to: rshannon@mail.utexas.edu