Illinois

Genealogy of the Yeargan Family 1730-1890

By the personal efforts of Leonidas Hilary Yeargan and Hilary H. L. Yeargan, two second cousins, who are great-grandsons of the original Rev. Andrew Yeargan, these memoirs have been obtained. The descent in this manuscript starts with Rev. Andrew Yeargan, who came from Wales about the year 1735 and settled in Virginia, ministering in the […]

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Bartlett Family Genealogy

Typing on six onion skinned papers, Ralph Sylvester Bartlett presented his lineage in the early 1900’s. His Bartlett family were early pioneers in Kittery Maine in the section later known as Eliot Maine. Whether he ever meant to compile these pages into book form is left for you to interpret, but somebody did eventually compile the 6 pages they had of his family tree. We provide the entire 6 pages in digital format below the transcription.

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Memoirs of a French Village: a chronicle of old Prairie du Rocher, 1722-1972

In summarizing or evaluating the history of Prairie du Rocher, one must note the impact that historical events and influences have made on present day, Prairie du Rocher. The community is today, as it was in the 1700′ s, basically an agricultural community. The farmers no longer live in the village, but they remain the basic economic factor in the village. The farm lands which surround Prairie du Rocher, are among the most fertile and bountiful soils in the world. The limestone bluffs, from which the French obtained stone for the construction of Fort Chartres, today provide livelihood for many of the villagers. The cemetery in which the inhabitants bury their dead in 1972 is the same one in which their ancestors buried their loved ones as early as 1722. The rock bluffs and the wide Mississippi River isolate the community from the outside world today, as they did in the early years. The mosquitoes remain as numerous and voracious as they were in 1839; and the damp, wet, unbearable, and unhealthy conditions return during the wet months. The population today is approximately 750, a gain of only 250 since 1859, over a hundred years ago. The old, distinctly French names such as Barbeau, Bievenue, Langlois, Louviere, De Rousse, and Duclos, still appear on the village registers, but the influence of the French is not limited to the inheritance of names. Over 90% of the residents today, belong to the Roman Catholic Church. The Church remains the center of the community. The majority of the villagers today, are complacent, contented, unambitious, good-natured, and happy – traits directly traceable to their ancestors. Most of the villagers remain to an amazing degree, as Montague described it, “free from that strife, contention, and turmoil, which attends the pursuit of wealth and political preferment.” In order to observe this living historical heritage, one need only attend the annual church picnic, rendezvous, or witness the group of villagers dressed in 18th century costumes, on New Year’s Eve, who move from house to house proclaiming the end of another year, in the old familiar words of the La Gui-annee.

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The Mudd Family of Prairie du Rocher Illinois

The influential farmer, James Duncan Mudd of Prairie du Rocher, is a member of the oldest family of settlers in Randolph County. Indeed, his family has been in America since the very earliest days, having come over to Maryland in the time of Lord Baltimore. This band of stout-hearted Englishmen set out from their native

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The Blais Family of Prairie du Rocher Illinois

The old town of Prairie du Rocher has undergone, perhaps, fewer changes than any other locality of Randolph County. Its foundation dates back to the early part of the previous century. Its growth has not been rapid. The French population of which, its inhabitants were at first entirely composed, has here retained its distinctive character

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