Emily Eveleth of White Co Illinois Ancestors

The Eveleth family appeared in the New Haven IL or New Harmony IN area of the Wabash River about 1824. Evidently the oldest daughter Abigail (Nabby) met and married Seth Hull about this time, but it is not known where. Seth had been in SW Illinois for several years so it is likely they met in New Haven or New Harmony before they married. But the Ohio River served as the major transportation link for the entire area so they may have met in other cities along the Ohio River, such as Shawneetown or Cincinnati.

It is our thesis that Ameriah and Amelia Eveleth left Otsego NY by 1813, moving to western PA near Erie. By 1817 they had joined the migration further west and applied for land in Ohio Territory. By 1821 they had moved on and were probably in SW Indiana or SE Illinois near Shawneetown by 1824. Census records of their children born during this migration support this thesis.

Some family histories written over 50 years later claimed that the Eveleths were part of the Harmonist movement who migrated from western PA to New Harmony IN about 1815. Searches through the Hamonists records have revealed no evidence of this, although it must be noted that the early records are mostly in German, scattered, and incomplete. It is true that an Ameriah Eveleth was known to be in the Erie PA region about 1813 - because a War of 1812 record in the PA Archives showed that he was hired as a teamster for the US army for a period during that war. Erie is not too far from where the Harmonists lived before they moved their entire operation to Indiana about 1815. So it is possible.

The Harmonists began a move back to PA in the early 1820s, selling much of their property on both sides of the Wabash to others including a major sale of New Harmony to Robert Owen, a well known free thinker from Scotland. From well known diaries and letters, it is known there were several Eveleth families that were part of the Owenites in New Harmony about 1825. Research has shown that most of these Eveleths were likely not related to Amelia's family. Their histories are well documented and they moved back east to Cincinnati and eastern KY. Also, a historian Gloria Cox had access to many records of the Owenites and created a \"index\" of names that appear in the daily records of the Owen community. Fortunately, Amelia's family appears on several pages of the records. So it is clear that in 1826 Amelia Eveleth's family was associated with the Owen Community of New Harmony IN - a fact that may have been later 'remembered' as being part of the Harmonist movement'.

In the 1826 Owen Community records, John Eveleth and Willis Eveleth are listed as attending school - which indicates they were likely no older than 12 or 13 years of age at the time. Thus they were probably born between 1815 to 1819, since John was married by 1834. From 1826, a list of Members of the New Harmony Society (NOT the Harmonists who had already left) included the entry \"Amanda Eveleth Hulls Family\". This is likely an entry with a small error - the correct name would have been Abigail Eveleth Hulls Family - and it is easy to see how a census taker could have gotten it slightly wrong. (Abigail's sister was Amanda Eveleth who later married Timothy Hutton in nearby New Haven.) The Harmonists (and the Owenites) owned many acres of land on both sides of the Wabash - so it is not certain the family actually lived in New Harmony on the Indiana side because Seth Hull was known to reside on the Illinois side.

The Owen Experiment began to break apart by 1826 and many of its members left the community. Amelia Eveleth had certainly moved on to Illinois by 1828 where her daughters were married and she purchased land.

Unfortunately there is no direct statement of the identity of Amelia Eveleth's husband. After exhaustive searches of Ohio, PA and NY records we have concluded that the most likely name of Amelia's husband was Amariah. The name Amariah was given to several grandchildren of Amelia's. Amelia's first known male child was named Amariah. Records show that an Amariah Eveleth left Princeton MA about 1800, settled and married in Otsego Co NY, moved through PA and Ohio in the years from 1811 through 1820. These are the states that the various Eveleths of White Co consistently stated on census forms where they were born. No document has been found that gives direct proof of our claim that Amariah Eveleth of Princeton MA was the husband of Amelia. Amariah Eveleth of Princeton MA had a sister named Nabby who lived in Keene NH. In her will in 1830 she stated that her brother Amariah was dead and she left a small amount of money to his unnamed children. All evidence for our claim is circumstantial but, after extensive searches, no evidence has been found that contradicts our claim that Amelia's husband was Amaraih Eveleth, formerly of Princeton MA.

The Eveleth family in White county in the late 1830s consisted of Willis and wife Patsy GUILLAND; Sylvester and wife Drucilla BAYLEY; and Amanda and Husband Timothy WALTON. Their sibling John Eveleth still lived in the area but there may have been two John Eveleths living in White County then. One John Eveleth married Maria WILLIS in White Co, Feb 10, 1834 but a second marriage of John Eveleth to Elizabeth MORRISON took place in Gallatin Co, 19 Oct 1837. Of course these could be the same John married to different women. In any case John Eveleth had disappeared from the area by 1840. In 1850 a John Eveleth, formerly of White Co applied for Bounty Land in West Illinois, using his service in the Black Hawk War of the early 1830s as a basis for his application. No further word is heard from him.

It is clear from the various documents (land, wills) that these Eveleths were siblings and children of Amelia Eveleth of White County. Amelia had been in the area in the mid 1820s and bought land from her daughter Nabby and husband Seth HULL in 1829 in White Co. She lived on the land until her death in 1835, but had deeded the use of the land to her son John in return for some money and in return for him taking care of her in her old age. The land record of the time gives a glimpse into the family and states her date of death.

Amelia had other children in White Co in the 1820s and early 1830s. Her daughter Nabby married Seth HULL (place unknown, about 1824) and they lived in the New Haven area. The Hulls moved further west to Cass county IL about 1835. Amelia's daughter Amanda married Timothy Walton on 19 March, 1828. They remained in the area for many decades. Amelia's daughter Mary married Neely WITHROW May 19, 1830 but they also moved west by 1835.

Amelia Eveleth had a son Amariah who died in White Co in 1830. Fortunately his probate was found in the miscellaneous files of White Co. They verify that Amelia was his mother and the other details reflect the relationship to the Walton and Withrow families and his siblings and neighbors.

Emily Eveleth of White/Gallatin Co IL was born about 1839 in the New Haven area of White/Gallatin Co. The first public evidence of her name appears in 1845 when she was listed as a student at Union Ridge School, along with her cousin Mary Evelith(sic) - daughter of Sylvester. In the 1850 census Emily was living with Sylvester and Drucilla Eveleth. Both Sylvester and Drucillla died before 1855 and Drucilla's will listed Emily as her niece - thus 'proving' Emily was part of the Sylvester's family group.

Emily married Benjamin Mize - a saddler in Shawneetown and New Haven - and they lived there from the 1850s until her death Feb 12, 1889.

No record exists that gives us the name of Emily's parents. But by process of elimination of known family members, William (Willis) Eveleth - Sylvester's brother is the most likely father and Patsy Guillland is likely her mother. Willis and Patsy were married shortly before 1839, they appeared in the 1840 census with an infant daughter, and Willis died shortly thereafter leaving a probate record. Thus Emily was probably an orphan who went to live with her nearby Uncle Sylvester's family.

Amariah Eveleth, along with other residents of Princeton MA, moved to the NY frontier in Butternuts NY before 1800. It is not known whether he was married at the time. After searching all known church records, no record of a marriage has been found in Princeton MA or Otsego NY. Amariah bought land in nearby New Lisbon where he was listed in the 1810 census. In addition, he appeared on the county work roles in 1808-1810. Further land records turned up no record of a land sale, but he must have left about that time since his named does not appear in Otsego after 1810.