MIGRATIONS
- westmohney
- 2 days ago
- 9 min read
When you start about family, about lineage and ancestry, you are talking about every person on earth ~ Alex Haley
As we entered the 19th century, we had ten families left out of the 52 we started with. These are stories about cousins from some of the other 42 that are of interest as many in our family push westward;
Bildad Adams
Our cousin Bildad Adams (3C8X) was born in Suffield, CT in 1765. Ca. 1780, he moved with his parents to Marlboro VT. He married in 1793 and had eleven children with his wife Mary. All the children were born in Vermont. All of his children had been born when he served in the Vermont calvary during the War of 1812.
In 1815, after the war had ended, Bildad migrated with his family to an area in Ohio known as the "Firelands." This area of Ohio consisted of acreage awarded to Connecticut families who had lost their homes during the Revolutionary War. In 1780, the turncoat Benedict Arnold had swept the New London area of his home state of Connecticut, leaving a swath of destruction that left hundreds of families homeless. In 1792, the federal government decided to set aside 500,000 acres for the Connecticut "Sufferers"
It appears that not many of the "sufferers" actually settled on these far-flung, undeveloped lands. The area that would become the state of Ohio was part of the vast Northwest Territory. Land speculators immediately swooped in and purchased most of the original claims. The Ohio Company owned much of this land and heavily promoted sales in the area. Thus began the westward push that didn't stop until the migration reached the western coast of the United States.
Cousin Bildad settled with his family near the banks of Lake Erie in an area that would become the town of Milian, OH As one of the initial arrivals there, he was appointed a member of the first board of county supervisors and helped to organize Huron County.
In 1822, Bildad purchased additional property in Milan which was aknowledged by a certificate from the government:
Bildad remained an upstanding citizen of Milan until his death in 1826 at age 61. It appears that he died intestate. As was common in that event, a public sale of his personal property was held
passports through Indian territory
Our cousin, Matthew Raiford III, (1C5X) was the great-grandson of our immigrant grandfather, Philip Raiford (7GGF) who arrived in Virginia ca. 1680. Matthew was born in 1735 in Craven County, North Carolina. Matthew's parents, our uncle Matthew Raiford II (5U) and our aunt Judith Wall (5A), had moved to North Carolina from Virginia in 1720. Judith was an aunt of our grandmother Nancy Wall Covington (4GGM).
Other than his birth, we have no details of Matthew's early life. His children were all born in Montgomery County, NC and, in the first U.S. census of 1790, his is listed as still living there. Montgomery County lies just above Richmond County where our Covington and Thomas families lived.
In 1811, Matthew decided to leave North Carolina and join his son, yet another Matthew (2C4X), who had moved to Baldwin County, Alabama. The interesting part of the move is a now little known law that required anyone passing through Creek Indian lands in Georgia to provide references as to their good character and obtain a passport from the governor. Since many people passing through Georgia were also transporting slaves, the law may have stemmed from the fact that, according to the New Georgia Encyclopedia, "hundreds of fugitives from slavery settled in Creek towns."
Our cousin Matthew, then 75, and his son John (2C4X) left Montgomery County in late February 1811, taking about ten slaves with them. On March 4th, they applied for the requisite passport needed for them to travel any further into Georgia:
Monday 4 Mar 1811 On application That a passport be prepared for Mathew Raiford & his son John Raiford the former with ten negroes, all from Montgomery County NC - Which was presented and signed.
While I was not able to find a copy of Matthew's passport, below is a copy of one similar to what his would have been:
About the time our cousin Matthew was passing through Georgia on his way to Alabama, the United States had "initiated a program to turn Creeks into ranchers and planters." The program so divided the Creek Nation, those wanting to comply and those opposed, that a civil war between the two factions broke out in 1813. When the United States got involved in the conflict, it didn't bode well for the Creeks. U.S. Military action against the Creeks led to a "definitive battle" which took place in March of 1814 at Horseshoe Bend in Alabama. There, General Andrew Jackson and his forces killed 800 Natives, effectively ending Creek opposition to the government program. When the ensuing Treaty of Fort Jackson forced the Creek to give up 22 million acres of their land, the need for passports was no longer required.
Another of our relatives who got a passport thorugh Indian territory was Robert Clothier Ratliff (1C5X). Robert was the son of our aunt Susannah Thomas (4A) who married William Ratliff.
The Ratlifffs were on their way to Louisiana where Robert had purchased land in St. Helena Parish. Shortly after their arrival, the War of 1812 began and Louisiana became a battle zone. Toward the end of the war, Robert signed up to fight for his country. He died on March 2, 1815 while still in the Louisiana militia. Betty Carson and Howard Hazlewood, who wrote an excellent account of the early Thomas family, maintain that he may have been wounded in the Battle of New Orlean, fought on January 8. Since Robert's death happened two months after the battle, it seems just as likely illness may have been the cause. Robert was 51 when he died.
Ebenezer Brigham
Our cousin Ebenezer Brigham (6C8X) was born in 1789 in Shrewsbury, MA. He was in his late 20s when he decided to check out the much talked about Northwest Territory. He left Massachusetts, "traveling by canoe along the Allegheny River. . .to Pittsburgh." Ebenezer then took a flatboat down the Ohio River as far as Shawneetown, Ohio. After two years of teaching school there, he "legged it cross-country" almost 500 miles west to St. Louis, Missouri, "a French settlement of promise with three or four brick houses interrupting the landscape." Ebenezer's entire trip was over 1,100 miles.
From St. Louis, Ebenezer worked as a prospector, following the Mississippi River on horseback to Galena, OH, about 20 miles north of Columbus. From there it was on the Springfield, Illinois where he built a stake for his final destination, the northern climes of Wisconsin. Traveling about 12 miles a day with a pair of oxen, until he reached the mounds of that would one day be the town of Blue Mounds, about 30 miles west of what is now Madison.
In Blue Mounds, Ebenezer built a log cabin, the first structure in Dane County. There he worked as a farmer and a miner. From Wikipedia:
His nearest neighbor was located 24 miles away in Dodgeville and, as of 1832, the only other recorded inhabitants were four French-Canadian fur traders south of Green Bay and east of Rock River. Using such crude tools as a windlass, rope and tub, over 4,000,000 lbs. was taken from the mine and hauled by wagon to Green Bay, Chicago and Galena, in total a 15-day trip. He later accompanied William S. Hamilton and Henry Gratiot and several others to Green Bay to negotiate boundaries between the miners and local tribes.
From a newspaper article titled "Ebenezer Brigham: First Farmer in Dane County:"
Brigham hauled in groceries and set up a small store in his cabin. He also served meals. Enlishman G. W. Featherstonehaugh, who gologized in the neighborhood, complained that Brigham provided him "with a couple of hardboiled eggs and some stale bred, and charged about 10 times what they wre worth."
As one of the few residents of the county, Ebenezer was postmaster when the post office known as Moundville opened in 1831. In 1843, the name of the post office changed to Blue Mound and was moved to Ebenezer's farm house which also served as a trading post/inn/ general store known as "Brigham's Place."
His tavern became a popular stopover along the Old Military Trail, and soon his small mining camp grew with settlers arriving from Illinois and within the Michigan Territory. He was honored by the Michigan territorial governor Lewis Cass and appointed a magistrate. He held the position of magistrate for four years, serving as justice of the peace, and from the winter of 1830-1831 until 1837, as postmaster of Moundville.
During the Black Hawk War, he served as a colonel in the Wisconsin Territorial Militia. Fort Blue Mounds was later built near Brigham's home, and he and his neighbors took refuge there during the conflict. While Brigham remained in command, he successfully defended the post against several raids by the Sauk and Meskwaki.
Note: The Black Hawk War took place over a period five month period in 1832. A group of about 1,000 Suk, Fox and Kickapoo people, led by Chief Black Hawk, crossed the Mississippi River in an attempt to reclaim their ancestral lands. The war ended in August at the Battle of Bad Axe when 450 to 600 nativer were killed "forcing the survivors west and solidifying American control of the region."
Ebenezer was involved in politics during his later year, serving in the state assembly and on the Dane County board of Commissioners. He died at the home of a niece in Madison in 1861 at age 72.
The following tribute to the old Wisconsin pioneers was published in a Madison newspaper:
Of the pioneers--matured men and women--who made Wisconsin their home while yet a territory, many yet remain, but their days are numbered. . .In bowing to this inevitable result, there should be no regret. . .Our old patriach, Ebenezer Brigham, the first white settler in Dane county, has a time-defying monument marking the place of his burial at Forest Hill where his is lulled to repose the the gentle pulsations of our lovely lakes. Where he leads the way, we who remain are not afraid to follow.
In March 1910, Ebenezer's heirs donated the site of an old blockhouse from Fort Blue Mounds, which was used during the Black Hawk War, to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. A bronze tablet marking the site of the fort was placed in a special ceremony held on September 5, 1910. A replica of Ebenezer's general store is also on display at the Mt. Horeb Historical Society Museum in Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin.
Cave of the Mounds
When Ebenezer died in 1861, he had no idea that a cave lay beneath the surface of his property. Having never married or had children of his own, he left his estate to his brother's children. When Ebenezer's nephew Jerome (7C7X) died he left the property to his son Charles (8C6X) who established a dairy farm there. From the Cave of the Mounds website:
In 1903, a small quarry was opened on the farm's hillside. . .geology students from the Universities of Wisconsin and Chicago. . .would visit to study fossils and bedding layers. . .wholly unaware of the geologic wonder beneath their feet.
In 1939, a gaping hole was discovered on the property by a contractor who had leased Charles' quarry to supply rocks for the highway department. Charles came out to inspect and had this to say: "When I arrived at the scene of the blast, the crowd was still on top of the cliff looking at the two gaping holes. No one had yet dared to climb over the rocks and look into the cavities."
Only three hours after the discovery, Charles and two other men went down to find a large cavern to the south. The next day they explored to the north where the came to an area now known as "The Narrows." Charles' wife Rosanna said of the find, "[e]veryone is crazy to get into [the cave]. Stalactite & Stalagmites of limestone. Lovely. Charles is so excited."
Just nine months later, the cave had become a major tourist destination. Within the first six months of its opening, more than 58,000 people came to see the cave. Today over 100,000 visitors come to the cave each year. In 1987, the cave was designated a National Natural Landmark by the United States Department of the Interior and the National Park Service. To be considered a NNL, "a site must be one of the best examples of a natural region's characteristic biotic or geologic features."
Brigham Park
Dane County established the 232 acre Brigham County Park in 1976. Named after Cousin Ebenezer, the park "provides a panoramic view of the Wisconsin River Valley and includes a 23-unit rustic campground, group camp area, two shelters, picnic area, play equipment, paved trail, nature trail through a maple woods, and hiking trails that connect to Blue Mound State Park."
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