Pioneer Letters Of Gershom Flagg

BUCK, SOLON J. [EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY]

Publication: Illinois State Journal Co, State Printers, 1912, Springfield

First edition thus. Reprinted from the Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society for 1910. 8vo. Original brown wrappers, titles printed in black, 47 pp., frontIspiece (portrait of Gershom Flagg), introduction, footnotes, portrait, map. Gershom Flagg, Madison County Pioneer; Veteran of the War of 1812; Abolitionist; Postmaster; Surveyor; and Justice of the Peace was born in 1792, in Orwell, Vermont. He married Jane Paddock Richmond Flagg and left Vermont in September 1816, spending a few months in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he hoped to find employment as a surveyor. He took a keel boat to Cairo, Illinois, and walked to St. Louis, thinking it would offer more opportunities as it opened up Indian lands to settlement. Two years later, in 1818, he moved to Fort Russell Township, six miles north of Edwardsville, Madison County, Illinois. Their 264-acre homestead, with its log cabin, was named “Cedar Crescent.” Gershom wrote many letters to his relatives in Vermont, that provided valuable information on life in the early days of Madison County. Large folding map bound-in at the end is titled Map To Illustrate The Pioneer Letters of Gershom Flagg with a red dotted line tracing the journey of Flagg from Vermont.to southern Illinois. Eberstadt 115: 392 says, "Journey through the Ohio and Illinois wilderness in 1817-18." Very good copy.

Inventory Number: 42286