BOONE ELLEDGE, grand old pioneer of the Hinman Chapel country, headed west from Harrison county, Indiana, on Sunday,
May 22, 1836. He brought his family and possessions to Pike county, Illinois, by wagon and pack horses. In homely
phrase and quaint spelling, he kept a diary of the journey and the expenses incurred, day by day. His great granddaughter,
Bertha Gray, wife of Lawrence Harvey of Griggsville, still has this diary indited more than a century ago.
Several of Boone Elledge's sons had come to the Illinois country ahead of him. His eldest son, Uriah, had been
here since 1823. Francis (named for his grandfather who married Charity Boone), came as early as 1830, and on June
6, 1831 had married Sarah Philips, this being the second Elledge wedding in the county. Alexander and William Elledge
had come in 1834, the same year in which Boone's older brother, Benjamin, and family arrived from Indiana. A letter
written by Benjamin, dated at Griggsville, March 13, 1836, and directed to his brother Boone at Laconia, Indiana,
advises the brother that Francis was then at Shelly's (Abel Shelly's), Alexander at Walker's (Robert Walker's)
and William with (Elledge). This letter also is in possession of Mrs. Harvey of Griggsville.
Boone Elledge was born in Clark county, Kentucky, on Christmas Day, 1783, a son of Francis Elledge and Charity
Boone, the eldest daughter of Edward Boone and Martha Bryan, and he a son of William Elledge and Sarah Kindred.
Edward Boone, younger brother of Daniel, was killed by the Shawnees in Kentucky October 5, 1780; Daniel, who was
with him, barely escaped with his life. Boone Elledge's parents, accompanied by her father, Edward Boone, and her
uncle Daniel, and Edward's and Daniel's cousin, William Scholl, with their respective families, had reached Boone's
fort (Boonesborough) on the Kentucky river on Christmas Day 1779, four years before Boone Elledge's birth.
Boone Elledge's childhood was lived under savage threat. He was ten years old before Kentucky emerged from its
Indian horrors, peace coming with "Mad Anthony" Wayne's victory over the tribes in 1794. Amid these perils
of the wilderness he had no opportunity for schooling; what he knew, a knowledge he put to good account, was learned
in the hard school of experience.
At the age of 18, early in 1802, Boone Elledge married a Kentucky girl whose identity is uncertain. There is reason
to believe, from records in Kentucky, that she was Mary McClain, a daughter of John and Mary McClain of Adair county.
There is record there of a Boone Elledge having taken a license to marry Mary McClain, February 1, 1802. The Kentucky
McClains and the Kentucky Hinmans were neighbors in the early settlement of that region and together these families
came to Pike county, Illinois, in 1829, settling on Hinman Prairie, where later arose the log Hinman Chapel. Boone
Elledge, arriving on Hinman Prairie in 1836, settled on 120 acres in Section 6, northwest corner of Griggsville
township, which he had bought from John and Isaac McClain in 1835, to which he added another 40 in 1836. His first
wife had died in Kentucky and was buried there.
Pike county descendants of Boone Elledge do not know that he was twice married. They have always supposed that
his wife, Rebecca, who came with him to Pike county, was his first and only wife and that the Boone Elledge children
were all of one mother. This, however, apparently is disproved by the records, which show that Uriah Elledge, the
eldest son, was born in Kentucky in November, 1802, and that Boone Elledge and Rebecca Bell or Beall were married
in Kentucky in June, 1809. The birth date of Uriah supports the belief that the Elledge- McClain wedding in Kentucky
in February, 1802, was that of Pike county Boone Elledge.
Two sons, Uriah and Alexander, were born of the first marriage, both in Clark county, Kentucky. Records there show
that on June 9, 1809, a license was issued to Boone Elledge to marry Rebecca Bell (Beall), who became the mother
of seven Elledge sons and one daughter who were so well known in the early history of Pike county. The Kentucky
record shows that Robert Alcorn was bondsman for Boone Elledge for the issuance of the license, and that Joel Tanner
was witness. The Robert Alcorn here mentioned was the husband of Boone Elledge's eldest sister, Mary Elledge; he,
a soldier of the War of 1812 and an old Indian fighter with Daniel Boone, died in the Six Mile country in 1831
and is buried in Prairie Mound cemetery, near New Hartford. His grandson, James C. Alcorn (eldest son of Benjamin
Alcorn), is buried in the old Uriah Elledge burial ground, east of Griggsville, in what is now a wild and briar-grown
patch. He died September 11, 1861, at the age of 21, while in the service of his country, during the first year
of the Civil War.
Shortly after his second marriage in Clark county, Kentucky, in 1809, Boone Elledge and his family crossed the
Ohio river and settled about 25 miles northwest of the Falls of the Ohio (Louisville), in then Indiana Territory,
of which present Illinois had lately been a county. Here, in Harrison county, in the Territory of Indiana, several
of the Elledge children were born. Here also dwelt Boone's brother, Benjamin and family, and for a time at least,
another brother, James and family, both of whom later settled in Pike county.
Squire Boone, Daniel and Edward's brother and an Elledge kinsman, had settled here on Buck Creek in 1804- 1806,
as had also the sons of Samuel Boone. This settlement in which Boone and Benjamin Elledge were so long a part,
was known as Boone Settlement. Here Boone Elledge kept store from about the time of the outbreak of the second
war with Britain, in 1812, until his migration to Pike county, Illinois. In his old account books, dating back
to 1815, from which we will quote later, appear numerous Boone names and the names of others who then lived in
the settlement and were identified with the early history of Pike county.
Uriah Elledge, prominent Pike county figure for more than 60 years, was born in Clark county, Kentucky, November
22, 1802. At the age of 20, he came to what is now Scott county, Illinois, arriving late in January, 1823, at about
the time that present Scott was being taken from early Greene county and made a part of old Morgan. In this sparsely
peopled region he worked for 18 months for Alexander Beall, near present Exeter. Beall had been there since the
closing days of Illinois Territory and had seen the wigwams of the Indians along Mauvaisterre. His sister, Tabitha
Beall, had married William Elledge, a son of Charity Boone and an uncle of Uriah. Rebecca Bell (Boone Elledge's
second wife) is believed also to have belonged to this Beall family. The name "Beall" was usually pronounced
as "Bell" and is frequently so spelled in the records.
On March 26, 1825, in old Morgan county, Uriah Elledge, then 22, married Catharine Scott, daughter of pioneer John
Scott, for whom Scott county was named. John Scott and his family had emigrated, along with two other families
and three single men (one of them his brother James Scott), from Casey county, Kentucky in 1819, reaching present
Scott county early in 1820, the women and children having been left in cabins at the forks of Wood River while
the six men in the party pushed on into the northern wilderness. This was in the month of January, 1820. The weather
was bitter. Frequent snow squalls swept the prairies. High winds roared in the forests. At length the high knoll,
north and west of present Lynnville, was sighted. The adventurers halted and during the month of February the first
human habitation, other than the wigwams of the Indians and the huts of the early French, was built in what is
now Scott county. This was for the family of Thomas Allen, who had married Sarah Charity Elledge, Uriah's aunt,
who in the month of April, 1820, occupied the cabin, the first white woman to settle within the present limits
of Scott. John Scott's cabin home followed, being the second in Scott county. About this time Nancy Scott, Catharine's
sister, was born, she who was to marry Benjamin Franklin Elledge, another son of Boone Elledge. Some authorities
say that Nancy was born in the cabin on Wood River, where the family was left while the father adventured northward;
others say she was the first white child born within present Scott county. She was born April 2, 1820.
Uriah Elledge related that in the early years of his settlement in Scott county he had to go to Upper Alton on
Wood River, a distance of 125 miles by the old Indian trail, to mill. In 1826 John Pierson (also spelled Pearson
in early records) erected a mill within about two miles of Elledge's settlement. He was of the Pierson family that
later, in Pike county, intermarried with the Elledge family, James Pierson, father of Shirley Pierson of Pittsfield,
having married Julia Elledge, daughter of Benjamin F. Elledge and Nancy Scott.
Uriah Elledge and Catharine Scott became the parents of eight children, seven of whom reached maturity, namely,
Rebecca Eleanor, Mary Margaret, John H., Daniel Boone, William Harrison, Emily J. and Uriah Douglas.
In 1825, following their marriage at Olmstead's Mound, then the seat of government in old Morgan, Uriah Elledge
and his bride settled at Sackett's Harbor (site of modern Griggsville), occupying the cabin that had been built
earlier that year by the Kentucky emigrant, Abraham Scholl, who had now moved to a location north of present Griggsville,
on the Griggsville-Perry road. In the fall of that year, the rank miasmas that swept up from the turned and decaying
sod on Griggsville knoll convinced the Elledges that the climate was unhealthy, and discouraged with the new situation,
they returned to the Morgan (now Scott) side of the Illinois river.
Five years later (in 1830), Uriah and his wife returned to the neighborhood of modern Griggsville and settled on
Section 13, east of the present town. Here, on October 26, 1831, occurred the birth of an Elledge daughter, Rebecca
Eleanor, the first female white child born within present Griggsville township.
Rebecca Eleanor, at the age of 20, married William A. Hodges, a native of old Morgan (Scott) County and a son of
John Murphy Hodges and Polly Clanton, natives of North Carolina. Amos Hodges, a cousin, and Uriah Elledge appear
from old Morgan county records to have been partners of a sort in the early history of that section. Hodges was
a cooper. There is record of Adam Allinson, English settler on Allinson's Mound (formerly Olmstead's Mound), having
deeded a 147-acre tract in present Scott county to Amos Hodges and Uriah Elledge for $150 on July 23, 1828. On
November 10, same year, Hodges and Elledge and their wives deeded this same tract to Robert Kenady for a consideration
of $300. The land is described as lying in the District of Springfield, where was then the land office for the
Scott county region.
William Hodges and Rebecca Elledge were married at her father's home near Griggsville, November 2, 1851. Justice
D. F. Coffey (of the Coffey Hill family), officiated. Mr. Hodges, who was born in the pioneer settlement at Winchester,
died at Griggsville, July 2, 1908, aged 82 years, four months and six days. His wife survived until January 16,
1911, dying at the age of 79 years, two months, 21 days. Both are buried in Griggsville cemetery. John Murphy Hodges,
William's father, following the death of his wife, made his home with William and Rebecca at Griggsville for about
two years and died there in 1874, aged 75.
William and Rebecca Hodges were parents of five children, one of whom, a daughter, died in infancy. The others
were Catherine M., Julia Frances, Uriah and John William Hodges.
Catherine M. married Romanta James Bentley, November 16, 1876, with Rev. J. B. Wade saying the ceremony. They located
in Texarkana, Texas, and Catherine died there in the winter of 1936-37. They had seven children, of whom four are
living, namely, Norman, Rebecca, Annie and Julia; they reside at Texarkana. Three children are dead, namely, Bertha,
Fred and Frank.
Julia Frances Hodges at the age of 23 married James Hanlin of Griggsville, the wedding being at her father's house,
July 31, 1881, the Rev. J. B. Wade officiating; William A. Hodges and A. M. Harrington witnessing. The groom was
a son of John Hanlin and Mary Cawthon, both natives of Ohio. He was born at Griggsville, May 22, 1857 and in his
latter years was sexton at the Griggsville cemetery. He died May 21, 1925, aged 67 years, 11 months and 29 days;
burial was in Griggsville cemetery. His wife, born at Griggsville, January 31, 1858, died on March 29, 1930, aged
72 years, one month and 28 days. She also is buried at Griggsville.
Mr. and Mrs. Hanlin had six children: Dorothy Hodges, Eleanor Elizabeth, Earl Williams, James Ellwood, Cora Katherine
and Ray Harvey Hanlin.
Dorothy Hanlin married Henry Rogers (Harry) George at Chillicothe, Missouri, September 7, 1912, he a son of John
George, Sr., and Maria Rogers, both of English ancestry. The mother, Maria Rogers, came to the New World with her
parents at the age of three. Her little sister was buried at sea, on the trip over. She was a sister of Thomas
J. and George Rogers of Griggsville. Harry George, born in 1881, is the youngest in a family of eight, of whom
Elizabeth (widow of the late Thomas Usherwood of Pittsfield) is the eldest; others are John Samuel (who married
Martha Wade), William T., Annie (deceased), Ellen E., Alice (who married Fred Davis and resides at Hannibal), and
Robert A.
Mr. and Mrs. George have no children of their own but have in their home Mrs. George's ten-year-old nephew, Billy
Lee, son of Mrs. William Clostermery, who died in 1931. Mr. and Mrs. George live a short distance northeast of
Griggsville, at the sign of the tall pine tree.
Eleanor Elizabeth (Nellie) Hanlin, daughter of James Hanlin and Julia Hodges, married Frank Morris of Griggsville,
July 1, 1906, he a son of Jesse Morris and Catherine S. Elledge, the latter a daughter of Richard Boone Elledge
and Lavina Hildreth, and a sister of Leonard Boone Elledge of Griggsville. The bride and groom were therefore both
great great great grandchildren of Francis Elledge and Charity Boone. They were both 21 when married. Mr. Morris
is now dead. Mrs. Morris resides in Griggsville. They had one daughter, Katherine Pauline Morrs, who married Melvin
G. Moore of New Salem, June 16, 1931, he a son of Abe O. Moore and Ida Johnson, and they have two children, Paul
Morris and Patricia Sue.
Earl William Hanlin married Veda May Dorsey, a native of Perry and a daughter of Delbert Dorsey and Lydia Bubb,
at Griggsville, April 2, 1921. They were married by the Rev. John Stretton, with Rhea and Burreba Hanlin witnessing.
They had one child, Lois, who died July 2, 1922, at the age of two months and 21 days. They live in Griggsville.
James Ellwood Hanlin married Mary Helen Miller of Pleasant Hill at Griggsville, October 18, 1913. They were married
by the Rev. J. D. Dabney, with Mrs. Nellie Morris and Arthur Lister witnessing. She was a native of Chestline,
Illinois, a daughter of Samuel Miller and Sarah Cissle of Baylis. They have two children, Frances Eileen and Wayne.
Frances married Laurel McConkey of Bloomington and they have two children, Bill and Ann. They reside at Bloomington.
Wayne Hanlin is with his parents at Griggsville.
Cora Katherine (Kathryn) Hanlin married William H. Clostermery of Pittsfield March 6, 1917. The Rev. David N. Wetzel
of the Pittsfield Christian church married them; Mr. and Mrs. Harry George witnessed. He was 22 and she 21. The
groom, a native of New Salem, was a son of Henry Clostermery and Anna Strubinger. Mrs. Clostermery died March 8,
1931, and was buried at Griggsville. She was 35, her birth being on April 9, 1895. She left two children, Harriet
Lucia and Billy Lee Clostermery. The former is in training in Methodist Hospital in Peoria; Billy Lee makes his
home with the Harry Georges at Griggsville.
Rhea Harvey Hanlin married Burreba K. Dorsey of Griggsville at Pittsfield, October 22, 1919. She was a sister of
Veda May Dorsey, who later married Rhea's brother, Earl. They were married by County Judge Burr Swan, with Ray
and Veda Dorsey witnessing. The bride was born at Perry. Mr. and Mrs. Hanlin reside northeast of Griggsville, on
the Jeff Smith place. They have five children, namely, John William, Edna Irene, Mildred, Jimmy Ray and Vera.
Uriah Hodges, a son of William A. Hodges and Rebecca Elledge, at the age of 25 married Jennie K. Baldwin, 23, of
Perry, May 17, 1885, John E. Morton, P. M., officiating at Perry. She was a daughter of John Boone Baldwin and
Julia A. Reed, he a son of Lewis H. Baldwin and Maria Jane Elledge, the latter a daughter of Boone Elledge and
a half-sister of Uriah Elledge. Three children were born to them, namely. Alice, Helen and Scott Adams Hodges.
Alice married James Brown and resides in Banning, California; they have no children. Helen married Monta Sellards
and lives in Oakland, California; no children. Scott married Ilma Durr, a daughter of John Durr, and lives in Bakersfield,
California. They have three children, Lorene, Junior and Donald, all at home. Mrs. Hodges lives with her daughter,
Mrs. Alice Brown, her husband having died more than 40 years ago.
John William Hodges, bachelor brother of Catherine, Julia and Uriah, resides with his niece, Mrs. Eleanor Hanlin
Morris, in Griggsville. He was born July 29, 1862, and at the age of nearly 75, reads without glasses.
Another daughter of old Uriah Elledge and Catharine Scott, and sister of Rebecca Eleanor, was Mary Margaret Elledge,
who, in Pike county, on February 24, 1856, married Finis Lowery Hobbs, a descendant of the noted Hobbs family who
were among the earliest settlers on the site of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, and who, with covered wagon and pack horses,
emigrated to Pike county, Illinois, in 1834, settling in what is now Perry township. Mr. and Mrs. Hobbs had one
daughter, Josephine, who on February 24, 1876, married Edward G. Allen, William Corey, J. P. officiating. They
located in the state of Kansas.
Finis Lowery Hobbs died early in 1870 and his widow, on May 7, 1872, again married, her second husband being William
H. White, member of a family whose ancestors came in the Mayflower, descendant of the branch to which belonged
Perigrine White, first white child born in America. Justice Alexander Wells performed the ceremony uniting William
H. White and Mary M. Hobbs. This daughter of Uriah Elledge died in the state of Kansas, where lived her daughter,
Josephine Allen.
Third child of Uriah Elledge and Catharine Scott was the boy, John H. Of him there is little record. He married
Maria A. Wells, in Pike county, October 31, 1875, and went to California about 60 years ago. He died in that state.