Macoupin County
ILGenWeb

Migrated From

Before settling here, where did Macoupinites live?

Migration from Athens County, Ohio

Alexander Carrico was not the only Athens Co., Ohio settler in Macoupin Co. in the 1860s. I did recognize the name Carrico from various Athens Co. tax lists as being an early Athens Co., OH name and a Macoupin name later, and also Boyle/Boyls, Markham and others.

There was my ancestor James Sterling Jr. born also c. 1816 in Canaan Twp., Athens Co., OH, to James Sterling Sr. of a family with roots in New York (1800 Plainfield, Otsego Co., 1810 Plymouth, Chenango Co.), and Lyme and Haddam, CT, and even earlier in Massachusetts. Also with James Sr. was his believed 1st cousin Morse Sterling. They and others were in Macoupin Co. in 1830 and served in the Blackhawk War in the early 1830s in James Kincaid's company, but returned to Athens Co., before again coming to Illinois in the 1840s to claim bounty land in Greene Co., IL, just west of Macoupin. Several of Morse's daughters married from Greene Co. in the 1840s. In the late 1850s or early 1860s both cousins moved over to Macoupin Co., around Girard and Nilwood. Morse also served in the Civil War March to September 1864 in the 133rd Infantry, in the infamous Rock Island camp, lying about his age, saying he was 44 when he was about 63 (born 1801 in Westmoreland Co., NY). He died of some ailment, perhaps respiratory, in March of 1865 here in Girard and is buried in Girard Cemetery as "Morris" Sterling. My Sterlings moved on to Chautauqua Co., KS, by the late 1870s.

[It probably was James STERLING, SR., on the 1830 Macoupin Co. census, since James STERLING, Jr., would have been only 14 or so. And VARNER is another name appearing in both places, related to the STERLINGs by marriage.]

Linda Kmiecik, Girard, IL
10 Sep 2018


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