Territory of Illinois
transcribed by Andy Darr
In 1809, Congress divided the Indiana Territory. The Territory of Illinois was established, with Ninian Edwards, of Maryland, as governor. (The old Edwards home was located at 3027 College Avenue.) The first legislature of
Illinois met at Kaskaskia. Madison County was one of the first counties in the new Illinois Territory. Edwardsville was the center of government for the county. People came here to enter their land claims.
Fort Russell, a short distance northwest of
Edwardsville, was the strongest military post of the frontier. Colonel William Russell was in command of ten companies of Rangeres stationed there. On July 30, 1819, a treaty was made between the
Indians and the goverment. The land bought from the Indians made up more than ten million acres of present day Illinois.
Between the years 1812 and 1818, the population of the Illinois Territory increased
rapidly . Many soldiers from Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky liked this territory so well that they sent for their families and built homes. By the year 1818, the population of the territory was almost 40,000.
In 1818, Illinois became the twenty-first state to be admitted into the Union. The state history of Illinois began with the settlement of Kaskaskia as the first capital, and Shadrack Bond as the first governor.
One of the first acts of the Legislature was to choose Vandalia as the new capital. Vandalia was chosen to be a temporary site. A two-story state house was built in the
center of the town square. Three years later, it was completely destroyed by fire. In its place, a large brick building was built. This building still stands and is owned by the state.
It is partly furnished as it was in the days when it was the Capitol.
In 1834, the legislature decided that Alton was to be the capital. Later, a group of
political leaders from Springfield, including Abraham Lincoln, made a deal with the people of Alton.
In return for making Springfield the capital, the state would provide funds for making
Alton the railroad center of Illinois. The depression of 1837 caused this plan to be set aside. However, Springfield became the permanent capital. State House Circle would
have been the site of the Capitol if Alton had been chosen.
Today, a beautiful fountain, flowers, and shrubbery make the circle one of the beauty spots of Alton.
History of Early Settlements
French Settlements
The exploration by Marquette and Joliet of the Mississippi River opened the area to the early French missions.
In 1693, Father Gravier began a mission in an Indian village at Kaskaskia. Father Pivet
had gathered with a group in another Indian village at Cahokia. These men were not interested in farming or colonization, but in the spiritual lives of the Indians. It was many
years before white men became interested in settling what is now Illinois.
In 1795, one hundred families set out from Virginia to establish a new settlement. They
settled south of what is now East St. Louis, and was named New Design. In 1796, Reverend David Badgley started the first Protestant church in Illinois in this settlement.
Today, only a cemetery remains of the settlement of New Design. A new community was started a short distance away.
James Gillham Family
Members of the Gillham family were among the early settlers. Thomas Gillham came to Virginia from Ireland in 1730. He later moved to South Carolina, where one of his sons,
James, married Ann Barnett. At the end of the Revolutionary War, James Gillham moved to Kentucky. 
One day, while in Kentucky, James Gillham was plowing a cornfield some distance from his home. Corn was an
important food in that early day. His young son followed the plow and uncovered any little plants. At noon, they went to their cabin for lunch. The cabin was a terrible sight.
Everything was in disorder; feathers were everywhere and none of his family could be found. The Indians had taken Mrs. Gillham, the children, and many of their possessions. The Indians had ripped these
feather mattresses open, thrown out the feathers, and used the ticking to carry the Gillham's cooking utensils.
Mr. Gillham, hoping to overtake the Indians, started at once to follow the trail, but was
unsuccessful. He returned to his farm and sold everything he owned. Hoping to get help, he and his son went to the white settlers at Vincennes, Indiana. Determined to find his
family, he started on the long, dangerous journey that brought him to Illinois. He was unable to find them, always a little too late.
After several years, he learned that his wife had been sold to a Frenchman for $1,000. The Frenchman returned his wife and loaned him enough money to buy the rest of his family.
Later, Mrs. Gillham told of her capture. The Indians did not want to harm her, because they wanted her to take the place of their medicine man. Mrs. Gillham was a fine "herb
doctor," and the Indians thought her medicine better than any they knew.
Mr. Gillham liked Illinois so much that he did not return to his home in Kentucky. With
his family, he settled near the present city of Wood River.
The Old Goshen Trail
transcribed by Tom Brockus
The word, Goshen, in Bible times meant a province in Egypt where flocks of sheep and goats were raised.
Goshen, the land of plenty, must have been in the thoughts of Reverend Badgley as he
traveled north into the unsettled region known as Madison County, Illinois.
He went back to New Design, talking about a new Goshen, a place of grassy prairies, fertile soil, and large areas of timber and water. 
The first settler built his home twenty miles from the
nearest settlement, but soon others moved into the region. Even though the settlers were able to care for themselves, there were some necessities they couldn't grow.
Salt was one of the necessities. St. Louis was one of the markets for salt, but the farmers found St. Louis difficult to reach, and the salt expensive.
In 1808, the Goshen Road went from the Goshen Settlement to the Ohio Saltworks. This road crossed the Kaskaskia River at present day Carlyle. Mail riders from Vincennes, Indiana, to St. Louis used this road.
The Goshen Road crossed Illinois near where Mt. Vernon is today, then led southeast to McLeansboro, Equality and Shawneetown, which is one of the oldest towns in the
Midwest. Other settlements, further west, were Walnut Trail, Carlyle, Edwardsville, Alton, and points West.
This trail followed a path, going around swamps, and through the woods in southern
Illinois, bringing settlers into the state at such a rate that its citizens wanted to become a state.
Not everyone went the length of the trail. Many people settled along the way. In 1818,
when a census was taken to decide whether the population was large enough for statehood, there was a belt of settlements from the Ohio River at Shawneetown, to the Mississippi at Alton.
This trail was the most convenient because it brought the settlers just north of
St. Louis. They had little trouble traveling downstream on the Mississippi River to St.
Louis. If the pioneers ended up on the Mississippi below St. Louis, then the trip upriver was difficult. The pioneers often traveled overland. The trail was never surveyed and
was never straight. It was between one hundred fifty and two hundred miles long. A great amount of goods was hauled over the trail.
A meeting house and a school district in Madison County are named Goshen.
First Settlement in Alton
transcribed by Tom Brockus
The first settlement at or near Alton may have been that of Jean Baptiste Cardinal in 1783. He was a Frenchman from Cahokia. Major Solomon Prewitt, who came to this
area in 1806, found what was probably the Cardinal house in Piasa. (Alton was once known as Piasa.) It was a rock house and was located at what is now Broadway and Alby Streets.
Wood River Massacre
transcribed by Tom Brockus
On July 10, 1814, the Indians killed a woman and six children from Wood River Forks settlement, two miles east of Upper Alton. The victims were the wife and two children of
Reason Reagon, two children of William Moore, and two children of Abel Moore. The men of the settlement were on guard at Fort Russell when the killings happened. A
messenger was sent to Fort Russell to sound the alarm. Fort Russell, which was northwest of present day Edwardsville, was the headquarters of the Rangers. The
Indians were followed north by the Rangers to the region of present day Springfield. All but one of the Indians were killed. The bodies of the victims were taken to Vaughn
Cemetery, south of Bethalto. Since there were no men to make coffins, two graves were lined with wooden boards into which the bodies were placed. A monument to these
victims of Indian warfare stands today on Fosterburg Road across from Alton State Hospital grounds.
Mr. Edward S. Stobbs has one of the old muskets used in killing the Indians during the
Wood River Massacre. The gun was owned by Wiley Pruitt who lived a mile southeast of present day Bethalto.
The gun was made in England, and was used during the Revolutionary War. The barrel
of the gun is still quite long, although it has been sawed off twice.
At the site of the massacre, a monument was placed in memory of those killed.
Colonel Rufus Easton and Alton
transcribed by Matt Cress
With the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803, the Alton and St. Louis areas were opened to new settlers from the eastern states. Among these early
settlers was Colonel Rufus Easton, who came to St. Louis in 1804. He was appointed federal judge and later, postmaster. As the settlers streamed westward through St. Louis
into the Louisiana Territory, Easton had the idea of establishing a new town nearer the junction of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.
In 1815, Rufus Easton bought land and started a town, which he named Alton, in honor of one of his sons. His town covered the land from the River to Ninth Street and from
Piasa to Henry. In 1818, he had four log cabins built on Broadway between Piasa and Market Streets.
Colonel Easton's first business was a ferry to compete with Smeltzer's Ferry, two miles
up the river. The Ferry services were used to carry supplies and early settlers to the New West.
The name of the founder of our city, Colonel Rufus Easton, is still a part of our city
today. We have Rufus Easton School and the Easton Memorial Fountain at Third and Easton Streets. Easton, George, Alby, and Langdon Streets are named after other members of his family.
A History of Alton Table of Contents
A History of Alton page 3
Where We Live: Alton
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