1876 Atlas

Alexander County occupies the extreme southern point of the State, the Mississippi forming its western and southern borders, and the Ohio and Cache its eastern. It has an area of 222 square miles. The pioneers of this region were Tennesseans, who are said to have fled to Illinois to escape the earthquakes, so prevalent along the river in the vicinity of New Madrid in the winter of 1811. William Bird is believed to have been the first settler in the county, but the date of his advent cannot be definitely ascertained. He was subsequently joined by his brothers, John, Thompson and Amos, the claims of the first three absorbing the entire delta, which took the name of Bird's Point. At one time, the other settlers from the mouth of the Ohio to Grand Chain comprised only Messrs. Clark, Philips and Kennedy, at Mounds; Conyer and Terrel, at America, and Humphreys near Caledonia. The Mounds massacre was perpetrated in the fall of 1812, by ten Indians outlawed by the Creek tribe in Kentucky. They appeared at the cabin of Mr. Clark, armed with guns and tomahawks, and received hospitable treatment, after which five of them went across to the house of Mr. Phillips. At a given signal, the fiends commenced their work. Mr. and Mrs. Clark were killed, and a visitor, Mr. Shaver, wounded and pursued to the bayou, which he swam, making his way to the Hacker settlement in Union County. Mrs. Philips, her son and daughter and Mr. Kennedy were butchered, and the unborn babe of the former delivered and impaled upon a stake. Learning of the massacre, Capt. Phillips marched to its scene, from Fort Massac, with a company of soldiers, and interred the dead. In 1818, John G. Comyges, Shadrach Bond and others entered about 1,800 acres of land above Bird's claim, and obtained from the Territorial Legislature a charter under the name of the "City and Bank of Cairo." The death of Mr. Comyges soon after caused the tract to revert to the government. Immigration having increased, the county was organized in 1819, taking its name from Dr. William Alexander, the first physician of the region, who was a member of the Constitutional Convention at Kaskaskia. The ounty seat was established at America, which was incorporated in 1820, by Henry Rector, Nicholas Berthold, James Riddle and others. Over $100,000 were realized from sales of lots, and the town had at one time 1,200 inhabitants, but became extinct through the formation of a bar in the river. Among its residents was the famous pioneer Col. Henry L. Webb, a brother of Gen. James Watson Webb, of New York. When a boy, Col. Webb was an eye-witness of the battle of Plattsburg. He raised and commanded a company from Alexander County, in the Blackhawk war, and aided in raising an Illinois regiment of regulars for the Mexican war, rising to the Coloneley of the Ninth Infantry. Up to a recent date he resided at Jonesboro. He once witnessed at America the feat often performed by those famous keel-boatmen, Mike Fink and Joe Carpenter, of shooting tin-cups from each other's hands with rifle balls. In 1835, the county seat was removed to Unity, where the records and buildings were burned by a couple of criminals. Thence a transfer was made to Thebes, and finally to Cairo. In 1830, John and Thompson Bird threw up a small embankment, and erected a tavern and warehouse, which were occupied by Amos Bird until he was swept away by cholera. In 1835, Sidney Breese, David J. Baker and Miles A. Gilbert entered the forfeited bank tract and transferred it to the "Cairo City and Canal Company," whose charter was obtained in 1837, and who purchased the interests of William, John and Thompson Bird, increasing their domain to 10,000 acres. In 1837, this company negotiated in England a loan of $2,000,000, which was expended within the following four years in building levees, mills and factories. The mortgage incumbrance preventing the sale of lots, all parties in interest, in 1846, made Thomas S. Taylor, of Philadelphia, and Charles Davis, of New York, trustees to improve and sell the property, discharging claims pro rata. The trust eventually reverted to S. S. Taylor, of Cairo, and Edwin Parsons, of New York, the lots first coming into market in 1853. Peter Stapleton is said to have erected the first house, and John Hawley the second, the town having a population of eighty in 1848. The Trustees, in 1851, gave to the Illinois Central Railway certain lands and privileges on condition that the latter erect around the city, above high water mark, a levee eighty feet wide. The last flood to affect the place was in the summer of 1858. The Trustees above named yet hold over 9,000 acres of land, of which 1,200 are inside the levee. The population of the city was, in 1870, 6,267. The climate of the region is that of Richmond, and the trees and fruits those of the Gulf States. Cairo is the most important river point between St. Louis and Memphis, and gathers a large Southern land traffic at its gates. The railways radiating northward are the Illinois Central, Cairo & Vincennes, and Cairo & St. Louis – the latter a new narrow gauge line. In the earlier period of the war, Cairo and vicinity was the theater of stirring scenes.

Business Directory

The Business Directory provides for each person listed: Name, Occupation, Nativity, and Year Settled in State.

Charles Anderson, John Antrim, C. D. Arter, Mrs. Louis Ashton, W. M. Atherton, James P. Bailey, David J. Baker, John Bedford, James Bell, John J. Bird, Geo. W. Birdronly, W. Blauw, Henry Block, B. F. Bowen, John S. Brawner, R. S. Brigham, Samuel Briley, George Brooks, Fredoline Bross, Charles Burgert, H. H. Cander, Bertha Castle, Louisa Christy, Payton Cook, P. H. Corcoran, Moses Corzine, W. H. Coutler, Mat. Cox, M. Cozne, John Cummings, C. Cunningham, D. L. Davis, F. M. Delany, Henry O. Derr, M. H. Derry, B. F. Duncan, J. M. C. Durham, R. A. Edmundson, Henry Eichhoff, Wm. Eichoff, G. W. Elise, G. S. Elliott, Sol Farnbaker, Phil Finch, J. Fugerson, Thomas Furguson, J. P. Gamble, Rev. Charles A. Gilbert, Frank Gilman, John Gladney, Elias Glasgow, Wm. H. Green, Wm. P. Halliday, Andrew Haney, John Q. Harman, Moses B. Harrell, C. Haynes, George W. Henricks, Louis C. Herbert, Michael Higgins, W. H. Hopkins, H. Houpt, Phil Howard, J. C. Huels, David Hultz, W. Hyslop, Milton Jenkins, John F. T. Keisell, T. J. Kerth, Chas. T. King, F. Korsmeyer, Louis Lambo, Charles Lancaster, Alexander Lane, James K. Lane, George Lattner, T. W. Leahigh, B. F. Livingston, Lynch & Howley, William Malone, Ralph Martin, James S. McGahey, John McIlroy, J. W. McKinney, Mrs. Clementine McLean, W. P. Mesler, I. H. Metcalf, F. Meyers, Samuel H. Michael, Jacob C. Morgan, Thomas Morgan, J. B. Mullins, C. Munn, Mrs. Louis Nassano, Peter Neff, C. B. Newland, James Nott, John Oberly, J. E. Park, C. W. Peoples, S. W. Peoples, John W. Pruess, A. A. Read, J. W. Renfro, C. Robbins, L. Ross, A. B. Safford, James L. Sanders, R. Schnell, Ezekiel Smalling, Joseph Smith, Reuben Smith, H. J. Stalker, J. W> Stewart, L. W. Stilwell, Mrs. Belle Stites, Mrs. P. A. Taylor, Richard Taylor, F. Teichman, Moses Tessier, F. Theobald, Alexander Thompson, John Thompson, John Thompson, Henry Thornton, Charles Thrupp, John Tyler, E. E. Walbridge, Harry Walker, W. W. Wallace, J. L. Waller, Matt. P. Jr. Walsh, H. Wardner, H. T. Warner, Henry Wells, Gustave Wetzel, Henry White, Jewett Wilcox, W. M. Williams, Warren Wims, Duncan Winslow, Gracie J. Winsor, Henry Winter, Henry Wisdom, Peter Young, Geo. T. Zimmerle

James M. Allen, A. N. Atkiinson, G. B. Bankson, Andrew Basham, James Belcher, Henry Boss, David Brem, Martin Brown, Joseph Bundschuh, Horace L. Caldwell, William Campfield, Miles Cauble, William C. Childers, John Clutts, John Craig, Thomas J. Craig, William A. Daily, B. F. Dickerson, James M. Dickerson, Eli Douglas, Margaret Duniven, H. Dunning, James W. Durham, G. W. Florer, W. H. Frazier, C. M. Gilbert, James Harden, John Harden, J. B. S. Hargis, Miles Hartline, Cliff Hazlewood, Solomon Hazlewood, William H. Heck, A. C. Hodges, William Holden, William Hulen, John Hurston, Moses Hutson, John Ingram, John W. Irbey, Levi Jourdon, James E. Kirtley, William Lawrence, A. P. Lesley, John Levitt, A. J. Lolless, George Long, Michael Lynch, S. M. P. McClure, T. J. McClure, James E. McCrite, William J. Milford, John F. Miller, M. G. Miller, Rufus Miller, George Milton, John C. Neilen, T. G. Newkirk, B. B. Noble, Lewis Palmer, A. E. Parrott, C. P. Provo, Scott Richardson, James L. Sacket, John F. Short, William T. Smithey, Gus Stroma, P. Sullivan, C. C. Thomas, Leroy Thomas, A. J. Thompson, William C. Thompson, William Tucker, William Wagner, Samuel E. Walker, John R. Wallace, Archible West, Henry Whitaker, James D. Whitaker, John Williamson, R. B. Wilson