[17] As early as 1800 settlement began in the vicinity of the present town of Princeton. Gibson County being organized in 1813 and the county seat located there, the following year a public square was cleared of timber, and town lots were offered for sale. It was named in honor of William Prince, a lawyer and Indian agent who had settled at Princeton in 1812; he later became a circuit court judge, and a member of Congress.—Ed.
[18] For the founding of Shawneetown, see Croghan's Journals, volume i of our series, note 108.—Ed.
[19] Morris Birkbeck (1763-1825) was a native of England, being born at Wanborough. He received a classical education and became a successful, practical farmer. Having become acquainted with a number of Americans, especially with Edward Coles, later governor of Illinois, Birkbeck emigrated (1817) to America. He purchased sixteen thousand acres in Illinois, upon which he located the widely known "English settlement" in Edwards County, whose chief town was Albion. Birkbeck and family settled a few miles distant, naming their point of residence Wanborough. Having considerable literary ability, he assisted Governor Coles in the latter's fight against admitting slavery into Illinois. In 1824 he was appointed secretary of state by Coles, but the senate, being pro-slavery, refused to confirm the nomination. In 1825, while returning from a visit to the New Harmony settlement, Birkbeck was drowned in Fox River. He was the author of Notes on a Journey Through France (London, 1815), Notes on a Journey in America (London, 1818), and Letters from Illinois (London, 1818), and some controversial pamphlets.—Ed.
[20] Birkbeck brought four children with him to Illinois: his second son, Bradford, aged sixteen; his third son, Charles, aged fourteen; his daughter Eliza, who later married Gilbert Pell; and his daughter Prudence, who married Francis Hanks. Soon after their father's death, the family left Illinois, the two sons and Mrs. Hanks going to Mexico, and Mrs. Pell to England to educate her children.—Ed.
[21] George Flower, born about 1780, was an Englishman of means who emigrated to America in 1816 in search of the famed prairies of Illinois, of which so much was being said. Visiting the Middle West in that year, he returned to Virginia and spent the winter, chiefly with Thomas Jefferson, to whom he had letters of introduction from Lafayette. In 1817, Morris Birkbeck arrived, and, as the two were old friends, Flower joined Birkbeck's movement and took part in founding the "English settlement." In 1818, on returning from a voyage to England, Flower was accompanied by his father (Richard, who wrote the letters reprinted in this volume), his mother, two sisters, and two brothers. After spending the winter in Lexington, the newcomers of the family removed to English Prairie in the spring of 1819. George Flower championed the movement against admitting slavery into Illinois, and lived to see Albion become a prosperous and beautiful town. He was financially unfortunate, and for many years lived in retirement with his children in Illinois and Indiana. Shortly before his death (1862) he completed a History of the English Settlement in Edwards County, Illinois (Chicago, 1882).—Ed.
[22] Harmony (or Harmonie as it was first known) was the famous settlement of the German Lutherans led by George Rapp. In 1813 Rapp purchased thirty thousand acres along the Wabash, on a part of which New Harmony was built. "Contrary to the general idea, Rapp's colony was a great success, so far as the accumulation of property was concerned, and when Rapp sold out, in 1825, it was said the wealth per capita was ten times greater than the average wealth throughout the United States."—E. B. Washburne, editorial note to Flower's English Settlement in Edwards County, Illinois, p. 61. The town was purchased by Robert Owen, a manufacturer of New Lanark, Scotland, for the purpose of putting into practice his communistic ideas. After a few years the communistic plan was abandoned, and Owen returned to Scotland, leaving the property in charge of his two sons.—Ed.
[23] Davis's ferry across the Wabash was twelve miles from Albion.—Ed.
[24] Black River, or Creek, rises in the southern part of Gibson County, Indiana, and flows westward, emptying into the Wabash a few miles above New Harmony.—Ed.
[25] George Rapp (1757-1847) was a weaver in Iptingen, Wurtemburg, and was noted for his biblical knowledge and piety. He proposed to reform society on the plan of the New Testament, gathering around him a community of persons who, in imitation of the early Christians at Jerusalem, held everything in common. This brought them into disfavor with the government, and he, with a portion of his followers, emigrated to the United States (1803), settling first on Conequenessing Creek, Butler County, Pennsylvania. In 1815, he established Harmony, on the Wabash, but ten years later led the colony back to Pennsylvania, and founded the town of Economy, about seventeen miles north-west of Pittsburg. See also, [note 22], ante.—Ed.
[26] A more detailed account of this society, up to the year 1811, will be found in Mr. Mellishe's Travels, volume ii.—Hulme.