Williamson County Early Settlers

The following was extracted from Goodspeed’s “History of Gallatin, Saline, Hamilton, Franklin and Williamson Counties, Illinois” and describes the first settlement of the county. It breaks down each township by who filed the first claims and in what year. The book was published in 1887 and data was likely accumulated in 1885 and 1886. Notes for clarification have been added in parenthesis. Continue reading

Hendrickson, Hartwell 1848-1899, Civil War Vet, Circuit Clerk, Alderman

Hartwell Hendrickson, Civil War veteran, clerk of the circuit court, alderman, postmaster and native of the county was born December 2, 1848, the son of Jesse Hendrickson (1822-1898) and Martha Ann Lewis (1823-1895), both natives of Tennessee.  Jesse and Martha came to Franklin County, Illinois about 1830 where he served for many years as a Methodist preacher. Continue reading