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Individual Record for: Abraham Eyman (male)

Notes:

Seems to have gone to Monroe County first in 1796, then renturned to take his family there 1797. He was known as a blacksmith, but also a carpenter and farmer

1800 moved to Belleville St. Clair Co.

From "Brief History of St. Clair County":
In the years 1801 and 1802, settlements were made southwest of Belleville by John Teter, Abraham Eyman, William Miller, Martin Randleman, and Daniel Stookey. The founders of this colony were of Pennsylvania Dutch descent, and were industrious, mor al upright citizens. Stookey and Eyman, in company with some others, came to Illinois in 1796 to explore that country, with a view to selecting a future location for their families. Traversing the country in the vicinity of the present city of Bel leville, Stookey and Eyman selected the locations where afterward they settled in the prairie west and southwest of Belleville. Abraham Eyman brought his family to Illinois the next year. He first lived in the American Bottom, near Piggott's Stati on, then moved to New Design, and in the spring of the year 1801 settled four miles west of Belleville. He was a good citizen and once represented the county in the Legislature. He died in the neighborhood where he settled. He was preceded a few m onths by John Teter, who had a house already built when Eyman arrived. Teter once served as County Commissioner. Daniel Stookey, who was a brother-in-law of Eyman, came to the county in 1802 and settled on what is now the Stookey farm, two miles w est of Belleville. He died in 1835, leaving nine children.


Some genealogies suggest that he served in War of 1812.

Member of the Lemen Baptist church where he was up for discipline ca 1830 in the New Design congregation, while he had long resided in Belleville.

There is a country road between Milstadt and Belleville name Eyman road.

Raymond of MO says the public llibrary in St. Clair has quite a bit of information.

There is a book Portrait and Biographical Record of St. Clair Co. Ill p. 272 which describes Abraham and Susannah Whetstone Eyman as Dunkers (GBB) It says further " He must have joined the church fairly late, because he fought in the war of 181 2 and served in the first State Legislature following the admission of Illinois to the Union" Neither of these would be likely if he were Brethren.. A Key passage from Allegheny Passage is "The Whetstones were connected to the Snider, Shaver an d Stukey families in Washington Co., Md., Berkeley Co. W. Va. Hardy Co, West Va and Brethren communities in Ohio and Illinois. So does this pretty much coincide with the "path" of the Eymans..? Do you think that at some point the Eymans were Men nonite? That is quite a different "clan"- Ferne Baldwin, Manchester College

Abraham moved to Illinois around 1801, which at that time was part of Indiana Terr. and only had 3 counties. Knox, St. Clair and Randolph. In 1809 the territory was changed to Illinois Territory with only 2 counties, Randolph and St. Clair. Illino is did not become a state until Dec 1818. I haven't found the exact date that Abraham moved his family but at first he came by himself in 1796 to scout the area for a place to live. He and his brother-in-law Daniel Stookey where signers and repres entatives of the NorthWest Terr. which was established by Thomas Jefferson as part of Virginia. Later they where respresentatives and signers of Petition to become Indiana Territory and later Illinois Terr. at that time Abraham lived just outsid e of what is now Belleville and was only 20 miles from the Illinois Territory seat of Government which was in Kaskaskia, Illinois.

Here is an extract from the Early Settlers of St. Clair County: "In the years 1801 and 1802, settlements were made southwest of Belleville by John Teter, Abraham Eyman, William Miller, Martin Randleman, and Daniel Stookey. The founders of this col ony were of Pennsylvania Dutch descent, and were industrious, moral upright citizens. Stookey and Eyman, in company with some others, came to Illinois in 1796 to explore that country, with a view to selecting a future location for their families . Traversing the country in the vicinity of the present city of Belleville, Stookey and Eyman selected the locations where afterward they settled in the prairie west and southwest of Belleville. Abraham Eyman brought his family to Illinois the nex t year. He first lived in the American Bottom, near Piggott's Station, then moved to New Design, and in the spring of the year 1801 settled four miles west of Belleville. He was a good citizen and once represented the county in the Legislature. H e died in the neighborhood where he settled. He was preceded a few months by John Teter, who had a house already built when Eyman arrived. Teter once served as County Commissioner. Daniel Stookey, who was a brother-in-law of Eyman, came to the cou nty in 1802 and settled on what is now the Stookey farm, two miles west of Belleville. He died in 1835, leaving nine children." "Abraham did not care to take any part in political affairs, but was several times prevailed upon to represent St. Clai r County in the Legislature. He was a member of the convention that met at Kaskaskia and framed the first constitution of Illinois. He was also a member of the first general assembly of this state, which convened in 1818." Abraham appears in sever al places in the State Legislature after 1818 and was still active up to his death in 1831. Based upon other family members Abraham was well educated and wrote letters often to his relatives both in Hardy, Virginia and Ohio. He stayed with his Fat her-in-Law and Mother-in-law George and Susanna Whetstone during one of his trips to the Northwest Territory Legislature which was held in Ohio. He apparently was well traveled leaving the farming task to his sons.

-- djssports@aol.com

1796 - 98 Abraham Eyman "Virginia Improvement" 100 acres close to New Design, St. Clair
http://www.iltrails.org/stclair/stcland.htm

This land near New Design, American Bottom. Seven miles the other side of Stookey Township to Abraham's homestead in Belleville, purchased about 1802?

Also note from Djssports@aol.com that territorial papers note Abraham purchase of 100 acres land on November 1798. Section maps of Illinois Henry's land directly on country boundary between St. Clair and Monroe County, just a mile from Abraham's f arm close to "Dutch Hollow".

1799 Abraham, court of Quarter Sesssion Cahokia
On July 2, 1799 - The court of Quarter Sessions convened at Chaokia, the name of those jurors of grand inquest: David Waddle, Leonard Harnish, Nicolas Jarrot, Abraham Eyman, Joseph Carr, Camil Starr, James Garretson, Adam Strait, D. Brown, Joh n O'Hara, Anthony Badgley, Solomon Shook, Jacob Short and John Scott. They indict Denois Valentin of Chaokia for keeping a billiard table, where money and other property is played for. They indict Frasier, a negro, for assault and battery on The rese, a free negro women of Chaokia.

1801-03 Abraham moves to Belleville
According to the History of St. Clair "In the years 1801 and 1802, settlements were made southwest of Belleville by John Teter, Abraham Eyman, William Miller, Martin Randleman, and Daniel Stookey. The founders of this colony were of Pennsylvani a Dutch descent, and were industrious, moral upright citizens. Stookey and Eyman, in company with some others, came to Illinois in 1796 to explore that country, with a view to selecting a future location for their families. Traversing the count ry in the vicinity of the present city of Belleville, Stookey and Eyman selected the locations where afterward they settled in the prairie west and southwest of Belleville. Abraham Eyman brought his family to Illinois the next year. He first l ived in the American Bottom, near Piggott's Station, then moved to New Design, and in the spring of the year 1801 settled four miles west of Belleville. He was a good citizen and once represented the county in the Legislature. He died in the ne ighborhood where he settled. He was preceded a few months by John Teter, who had a house already built when Eyman arrived. Teter once served as County Commissioner. Daniel Stookey, who was a brother-in-law of Eyman, came to the county in 1802 a nd settled on what is now the Stookey farm, two miles west of Belleville. He died in 1835, leaving nine children."


References to Abraham have been noted in Cahokia Record Book B 1800-1810 and Report of Squatters, and Claims confirmed at Cahokia. Un-numbered page

Iman, Abraham, Fountain Township, claims 100 acres purchased from George Hendricks of New Design. Second rate land. November 27 1798

Deed notes suggest the following 1798 Neighbors: John Capp, Fountain claimed 440 arpents (An arpent is an old French measure of distance and area. About 190 feet, .85 acres.) purchased from Larkin Rutherford. (In 1791, congress granted donation s for 400 acres each to heads of Kaskaskia area homes who had cultivated or improved land prior to 1788. Rutherford was among those receiving land. Note that Eyman lands were from this same Rutherford). This Capp land had originally been granted t o Benjamin Rogers at Grand Ruisseau by the court at Cahokia. (Benjamin Rogers got land from congress in 1790 by virtue of having served in the militia at that date. Most of those who had served were French.) Also, these lands adjoined those of Ant hony Badgley, Fountain Township claimed Peter Casterline's 100 acres which he'd purchased from William Murray.

p. 82 (5)
March 21, 1801. Abraham Eyman bought a 51 acre sugar camp in the hills of Prairie du Pont Creek in Cahokia for $50 with the approval of other heirs. Name on deed was Belle, Louis, and Francoise (his wife). Other heirs included John Palmier, calle d Beaulieu, and Joseph Puirier. Witnessed by John Hay and John Hays, recorded 1803

P 10
In 1796, George Hendricks sold all his claims to property at New Design to Larkin Rutherford on March 24, 1796, for $400, as witnessed by John Simpson (An old time resident and large land holder.) and Jaluh Pond. Hendricks inherited a great deal o f land by virtue of qualifying as a resident prior to 1788. Larkin Rutherford transferred his title to the above to Abraham Eyeman on July 7, 1796 for an undisclosed price, as witnessed by Thomas Halfpenny, and as recorded December 31. 1804.

P 11
Aiman (Eyeman) owned lands adjoining those of a George Hendricks. Iman was South of Hendricks. (this is confusing since previous documentation suggests that Iman had purchased all of Hendricks lands.)

Part of the George Hendricks land was sold to John Pullium of New Design. Samuel McCollister assigned related lands in 1799 to Joseph Harris, as witnessed by Jesse Waddle and Valentine Thomas.
Joseph Harris sold to Isaac Enochs in September of 1800, as witnessed by William Goings In 1802, Joseph Harris assigned the land to Abraham Clark, as witnessed by Robert Lemen. Enochs had been a militiaman with considerable land granted in 1809 fo r service in 1790. He arrived in about 1793 with the Whitesides to the New Design area. Note that the Abraham Clark mentioned here is likely the father of Felix Clark who married a daughter of Henry Iman, and whose children intermarried with Iman s on several occasions. Robert Lemen was probably the oldest son of James Lemen of New Design. Raised in New Design, he married and settled in Ridge Prairie, about 4 miles north of today's O'Fallon. In the administration of John Quincy Adams he se rved as Marshall for the State of Illinois. He was Justice of Peace, clerk of Richland Baptist Church, then member of Bethel Church, founded in 1809, where he clerked until 1845.

Land office of U.S.A. at Kaskaskia, Register of Applications and Permissions. Permit # 143. Iman, Abraham Aug 7, 1807. situate in Turkey Hill within three miles of Forbesher's (?) Prairie on the West branch of Richland Creek adjoining William Mill er on the East.
Neighbor: John Teeter, Turkey Hill Township on the South side of Forbesber's Prairie on the West branch of Richland Creek adjoining William Miller on the East.

In 1810, Joseph Poupart and wife Marie Louise, sold a 50-a sugar camp in the hills of River Platin to Joseph Primm Sr. This land was described as adjoining that of Abraham Iman and John Teater

--

The SCCGS had a Quarterly that listed lands taxed, Assessor's Book 1826. Abraham was listed as Eyman, Abrahm Sr. (SW36 SE&SW35 of 1N-9W) 400 acres - Road District Belleville. There were references during this period to a Jacob and Dan Eyeman (Son s of Abraham) in Spring Road District.

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