A FRAGMENT OF GRAVESTONE picked up on the site of the long-abandoned cemetery of the Elledges, two and one-half
miles northeast of Griggsville on land now occupied by Glenn Riley, bears the initials "E.K.E." This
doubtless is a piece of footstone that once marked the grave of Edward Kindred Elledge, seventh child and third
son of Benjamin Elledge and Catharine Reynolds, and a grandson of Daniel Boone's niece, Charity Boone.
Edward Kindred Elledge bore the name of his great grandmother, Sarah Kindred, and that of his great grandfather,
Edward Boone. He was known in the family as Kindred Elledge. He was 12 years old when the Benjamin Elledge family
settled on Griggsville Prairie in 1834. He was born near New Albany, Indiana, February 24, 1822, and died on the
Benjamin Elledge homestead near Griggsville, September 29, 1842, aged 20 years, 7 months and 5 days. He was buried
in the nearby cemetery, his being, probably, the third grave there. He was unmarried.
Elizabeth Jane Elledge, eighth child and fifth daughter of the Benjamin Elledges, was born in Harrison county,
Indiana (between New Albany and Laconia) February 20, 1824. She was 10 at the time the family emigrated from Indiana
to Pike county, Illinois. She also bore the name of her great grandmother, Sarah Kindred, who was the mother of
Francis Elledge and the wife of an early William Elledge. Her full name appears in a family record as Elizabeth
Jane Kindred Elledge."
Elizabeth Jane, on May 6, 1841, married James Hart Ingalls, member of a family with whom the Elledges were much
intermarried. Rev. Ezra Stout performed the ceremony at the Benjamin Elledge home. Elizabeth Jane's cousins, Rebecca
Jane and James Alexander Elledge, children of William Elledge and Tabitha Beall, later married William Mortimer
and Mary Jane Ingalls, children of Darius Ingalls, early settler at Jacksonville.
To James H. Ingalls and Elizabeth (Betsey) Jane Elledge were born two sons, Henry and William E. Ingalls. William
E. married Addie Ireland, at Griggsville, September 10, 1871, and they had a son, Harry Ingalls. William E. Ingalls
moved to Jacksonville and there conducted a bakery in connection with the large grocery establishment of Grassly
& Co. (C. F. and Fred Grassly) on the east side of the Jacksonville public square. Ingalls later went into
business for himself in Jacksonville, operating under the name of Ingalls & Co. Addie Ireland Ingalls, his
wife, died at Jacksonville, June 7, 1878, and the body was brought to the home of W. A. Wise in Griggsville, where
the funeral was held, interment being in Griggsville cemetery.
Mrs. James H. Ingalls, on January 12, 1858, married as her second husband William Augustus Wise, a native of Prussia
and a skilled gunsmith who was long in business at Griggsville. He was associated in the early 1870s with L. J.
Bartlett, under the firm name of Bartlett & Wise, and later conducted a gunmaking and repair shop with A. G.
Woodson, on the south side of the main business street in Griggsville. During the Civil War he had been foreman
of the armory shops at St. Louis.
Augustus Wise and Elizabeth Jane Elledge had one daughter, Delia, who married one of the Grasslys of Jacksonville,
with whom her half-brother, William Ingalls, had been associated in business. Delia Grassly has two daughters,
Delia and Nellie Grassly, deans in the Chicago Conservatory of Music; and a son Frank, also of Chicago.
William Augustus Wise died at Griggsville April 11, 1896; he is buried in Griggsville cemetery. His widow, in her
old age, was attended by her grandson, Harry Ingalls, son of William E. and Addie Ireland Ingalls, whom she had
taken to raise, his mother having died when he was an infant. She, the last of the Benjamin Elledge children remaining
at Griggsville, died there of old age on July 12, 1902. She was 78 years, two months and six days old. Burial was
in Griggsville cemetery.
Latest born of Benjamin Elledge's ten children was Reynolds Milton Elledge, born near New Albany, Indiana, March
5, 1831. He was three years old when the family settled on Griggsville Prairie in 1834.
Reynolds Elledge, on December 8, 1853, married Zerilda Reynolds, at Griggsville, with the Rev. B. B. Carpenter,
pastor of the Baptist church there, officiating. Zerilda Reynolds was a native of Bourbon county, Kentucky, born
not far from Lexington, county seat of Fayette. In her childhood her family moved from Kentucky and located a short
distance from Natural Bridge near Ashley, in Pike county, Missouri.
Reynolds M. Elledge and Zerilda Reynolds had one child, a daughter, Alice Medora, who married Dr. John Wesley Carter,
a native of Lynnville, Morgan county, Illinois. They were married at Bowling Green, Missouri, October 15, 1877.
They had two children, Dr. Royal Fred Carter and John Delbert Carter. Dr. Carter and his family removed to Hamilton,
Missouri, in 1880, thence to Lawrence, Kansas, in 1887, and in 1893 to Kansas City, Missouri, where Dr. John Wesley
Carter died August 27, 1925. The son, Dr. Royal Fred Carter, died in Kansas City June 5, 1933. Alice Medora Carter
now resides at 5300 Bennington Avenue, Kansas City. Her son, John Delbert, is also a resident of Kansas City.
Reynolds Milton Elledge and his family, along with the family of Dr. Carter, located at Hamilton in Caldwell county,
Missouri, in 1880. Zerilda Reynolds Elledge died there May 1, 1885, at the age of 64, and is buried there. Reynolds
Elledge died in Livingston county, Missouri, March 4, 1903, lacking one day of 72; he is buried in Livingston county.
Benjamin Elledge, one of 11 children of Francis Elledge and Charity Boone, died October 31, 1853, on the land on
the old State Road where he settled in 1834. He had been born in the year of the Blue Licks defeat in Kentucky,
and was 71 years old. He is buried in the old Elledge cemetery, near the site of his early habitation. The stone
that marked his grave is broken and part of it lost, but a fragment yet remaining near the site of the burial bears
this much of the inscription: "Died Oct. 31, 1853 — aged 71." The portion bearing his name is lost, but
a foot-marker with the initials "B. E." still remains upon the ground.
Another fragment on the old burying ground bears this much of the original inscription: "Wife of Benj. E.
— May 16, 1863 — aged 76 yrs. 11 mons. 3 days." This stone marked the grave of Catharine Reynolds Elledge
who survived her husband nearly ten years, her death occurring at the old home near the place of burial. The plow
and the reaper and the feet of farm flocks have long passed above the perished forms of these early settlers.
Here, too, undoubtedly is the dust of Charity Elledge, mother of Benjamin Elledge and an own daughter of the Boones.
While there is no conclusive proof, it is probable that benjamin's father, Francis Elledge, is also buried here.
No fragment of stone found at this place bears any lettering that could be connected with Francis Elledge, but
the writings of Edward Boone Scholl indicate that Francis and Charity were buried together near Griggsville, while
the late Samuel Peake of Winchester remembered distinctly having been told that old Jesse Elledge's mother was
buried across the river in Pike county. A small fragment of stone found on the cemetery site bears the last three
letters of the name "Charity," doubtless being a fragment of a stone erected at the grave of "Charity,
wife of Francis Elledge."
Francis and Charity both lived to a great old age. Francis Elledge was born in North Carolina in March, 1749. Both
he and Charity, according to Boone Scholl, "lived past 95." Francis must, therefore, have died about
the year 1844. Records left by descendants of his daughter, Mary Elledge Alcorn, indicate that he was a son of
William Elledge and Sarah Kindred, pioneers in the Shenandoah Valley, in the county of Augusta, Virginia, where
the William Scholls, parents of Pike county Abraham, challenged the ancient wilderness. It is probable that the
early Scholls and the early Elledges came together out of the Shenandoah Valley into North Carolina.
Charity Boone, eldest daughter of Edward (Neddie) Boone and Martha Bryan, was born in October, 1758. She died about
the year 1853. Mrs. Spraker in "The Boone Family" says: "Charity Boone married Francis Elledge or
Ellege or Willege. They followed their children into Illinois, settling near Winchester, where they both died—
he first, and she later, about 1853." It is likely that Francis and Charity lived for a time with some of
their children in Old Morgan, now Scott county, coming later in their old age to the home of the son near Griggsville.
There is no mention, however, of either of them in records of Old Morgan or in Scott county, erected therefrom
in 1839.
Francis Elledge and Charity Boone were married in North Carolina in 1778, in the time of the Revolution. They came
out to Kentucky with her father, Edward Boone and his family, in a pack train headed by Daniel Boone, in 1779,
reaching famous Fort Boonesborough on the Kentucky river on Christmas Day, 1779.
During that first winter in Kentucky, they suffered the hardships common to all the settlers in that new land.
That winter was the bitterest in 18th century Kentucky history. While the patriots of the Revolution were suffering
awful agonies in the huts of Morristown, the settlers of Kentucky faced famine in an inhospitable land. The cold
had set in early. Deep snows, crusted on top, filled the wilderness. Game was gaunt with hunger. There was only
one consolation, the bitter cold kept the Indians at home. Boone hunted, going far afield, seeking to relieve the
suffering. The wolf was at the door of nearly every cabin in Kentucky.
Boone divided his corn, to the last few grains, with the newcomers. When spring came, and the sap began to flow,
the lean buffaloes came into the sugar camps and could with difficulty be driven away, so starved were they. Amid
such privations, Francis and Charity established a home in the Kentucky land.
In 1781, Francis and Charity appear to have been at Squire Boone's Station on Brashear Creek; at least there is
record of Francis Elledge being wounded in an Indian ambuscade during the retreat of the whites from this station
in September that year. Two or three of Francis and Charity's children had then been born.
At Squire Boone's Station lived also the "Widow Hinton" and her children; she it was who afterwards married
Major William Chenoweth and became the mother of pioneer Pike county Chenoweths, namely, Jacob Van Meter, Abraham
and James Hackly Chenoweth. Major Chenoweth, an officer in the Revolution, had been appointed March 5, 1781, in
Jefferson county, Kentucky, as administrator of the estate of Mrs. Hinton's deceased husband, John Hinton (or David
Hinton, as the name appears in some Chenoweth records). The maiden name of the widow was Mary Van Meter, she being
a daughter of Jacob Van Meter. Joseph Scholl, Jr., son of Joseph Scholl (brother of Pike county Abraham) and Levina
Boone (Daniel's daughter), also married one of the Van Meter girls, Rebecca, whose first husband was a Miller.
The children of William Chenoweth and the "Widow Hinton" and the children of Francis Elledge and Charity
Boone, neighbors in Kentucky in 1781, later settled in the same neighborhood here in the Illinois country.
Note: The Chenoweths were among the first settlers at the Falls of the Ohio, where now is Louisville, Kentucky,
and it was there, on July 17, 1789, that the horrible Chenoweth massacre occurred, when a party of 16 savages suddenly
burst into the room in which the large family of Richard Chenoweth, uncle of Major William, were lingering over
the supper table. It was there that Margaret (McCarthy) Chenoweth, whose full head of jet black hair was the glory
of the settlement, fell as she fled, with the iron barb of an Indian arrow buried between her shoulders, and while
lying prone on the ground, but yet fully conscious, underwent, without a groan, the awful agony of scalping. Left,
finally, for dead, by her savage tormentors, she recovered and lived to be more than 80 years of age, going through
life with her naked skull covered by a cap instead of by the glorious hair that had been her youthful adornment.
Amid such scenes as these, they whose perished forms are mingled with the dust of the Griggsville prairie reared
a family in the wild and Indian-haunted land of Kentucky. Hallowed is any ground that contains the dust of pioneers
such as they!
In an early chapter the writer suggested that Francis Elledge and Charity Boone had other children than the eight
who were then definitely known. There was considerable evidence that three others associated with the history of
the Illinois country derived from the same parentage. A recent discovery of an old record at Maysville in the home
of William Riley Willsey, 83-year-old descendant of the Boones, proves that Francis and Charity had in fact 11
children.
This record of Charity Boone's children was handed down to Mr. Willsey by a grandson of Mary Elledge Alcorn, daughter
of Francis Elledge and Charity Boone and a sister of Benjamin, Boone, James and Jesse Elledge of early Griggsville.
This record was written down by Mr. Willsey in an old account book and is as follows:
"Francis Elledge born 1749 - Charity Elledge born 1758 - father and mother of Mary Elledge, James Elledge,
Benjamin Elledge, Boone Elledge, Patsy Elledge, Nancy Elledge, Edward Elledge, Charity Elledge, William Elledge,
Jesse Elledge, Jemima Elledge. Record given me by Cousin Willie Alcorn, son of Uncle Jesse." (Note: Charity,
named above, was also known as Sarah, and Jemima, who married William Scholl, was known also as Martha.)
Mr. Willsey's mother, Malinda Rogers, was a daughter of David Redmon and Fanny Alcorn Rogers, she being a daughter
of Robert (Robin) Alcorn and Mary Elledge. Three of Mary Elledge's sons, William, Benjamin and Jesse Alcorn, were
prominent in early Pike county.
Much confusion exists among descendants of Charity Boone as to whose daughter she was. Numerous of them were brought
up in the belief that she was a daughter of old Daniel, whereas she was the eldest daughter of Daniel's younger
brother, Edward. Mr. Willsey is one of Charity Boone's descendants who long believed that he descended directly
from the famous Indian fighter. In his old account book, the writer found this entry:
"My Grandmother, Fanny Rogers (nee) Alcorn, said to me that her mother was a daughter of Daniel Boone.
-W. R. Willsey." Also this entry:
"Benjamin Alcorn said Charity (Chariry Boone Elledge) was a daughter of old Daniel Boone, the great hunter."
Benjamin Alcorn, born in Kentucky in 1814, is buried in the old Shinn cemetery near Summer Hill, which contains
also the dust of Pioneer Daniel Shinn. Jesse Alcorn is buried at Griggsville. William's burial place is unknown.
In W. R. Willsey's library is a copy of W. H. Bogart's "Daniel Boone and the Hunters of Kentucky." In
this book is a picture of Daniel Boone, clad in hunting costume and coonskin cap. Underneath this picture, Mr.
Willsey has written: "My Great Great Grandfather."
Mr. Willsey states that at a later time he was informed by Jesse Alcorn, who was a younger son of Charity Boone's
daughter, Mary, that Charity was a daughter of Edward Boone and a niece of Daniel.
Among the Alcorn records is an old woodcut representing the artist's conception of the killing of Edward Boone
by the Indians in Kentucky on October 5, 1780. This picture is from an original drawing from the "Life of
Daniel Boone," by William F. Cody (Buffalo Bill), published in 1888. It is entitled "The Killing and
Scalping of Boone's Brother." It shows six Indians, bedecked with war paint and feathers, three mounted, three
on foot, one of them lifting the hair of the fallen Elledge ancestor with his left hand while in the other gleams
the scalping knife at the victim's scalp. The scene is a bit of grassy meadow in a Kentucky valley, where Edward
and his brother Daniel had paused to graze their horses, Edward falling under the fire of hidden Indians as he
sat against a tree cracking hickory nuts on a stone in his lap. Daniel on this occasion escaped the redskins after
killing their pursuing dog, described by Edward's Pike county grandson, Edward Boone Scholl, as a "smell hound."
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