The Hargrave Family and War of 1812-- Part 1: Willis Hargrave

From Jeanne Hargrave blog at Word Press.

Back on August 16, I wrote about the first four companies of Illinois Territory Rangers.  One of them was commanded by William McHenry, whose name is now on McHenry County, Illinois, as well as the City of McHenry in that county.  Before I started this blog, I believed my county's name came from the famous fort in Baltimore.  You learn something new all the time.

Another company was commanded by Willis Hargrave, one of Jeanne's ancestors.

On July 20, 1810, 40-year-old Willis Hargrave (son of William and Elizabeth Miles  Hargrave) was appointed  Captain of the 3rd Regiment of Illinois Militia.  The unit became known as Captain Hargrave's Company of Mounted Volunteers.

In mid-1810, the census found his wife, Jane Brown Hargrave, and their younger children alone in Randolph County, Illinois Territory.  With Willis in the field  were sons Seth (age 16) and Samuel (age 20).

In 1811, Willis Hargrave, age 41 by then,  enlisted with a new military group and was appointed Major of the 4th Regiment  of Illinois Militia on November  29, 1811.

--Brock-Perry

Some More on the Illinois Rangers

From Clinton Illinois genealogy "Muster Rolls of Volunteers -- 1812"

Although Illinois Territory Governor Ninian Edwards had several times during the years 1811-1812 recommended to the U..S. Secretary of War the enlistment of  one or more companies of "Rangers" to protect the frontier, and Congress in 1811 passed an act  authorizing the organization of ten companies of rangers, which was afterwards  organized as the 17th United States Regiment, under Colonel William Russell of Kentucky, an Indian fighter of bravery and experience, it does not appear that more than one company was recruited in the Illinois Territory.

However, four companies were now allotted for the defense of Illinois, whose respective captains were  Samuel and William B. Whitesides, James R. Moore and Jacob Short.

Independent Cavalry Companies were also organized for the protection of  the remote settlements  in the lower Wabash country, of which Willis Hargrave, William McHenry, Nathaniel Journey.

William McHenry was the namesake of McHenry County (where I live) and the city of McHenry which is also in the county.  I was always under the opinion that the county and city were named after Fort McHenry in Baltimore, the subject of our "Star-Spangled Banner."

Captain Craig, at Shawneetown, and William Boon at Big Muddy, were respectively commanders ready to make the Indians pay for any attacks.

--Brock-Perry

William McHenry Fort McHenry Not Named for Him (McHenry County in Illinois Named After Him)

McHenry County, Illinois,  and the City of McHenry, Illinois both named in his honor.

Born 3 October 1771 and Died 3 February 1835 at age 63.

Buried at Old State Cemetery (also called Old City Cemetery) in Vandalia, Illinois.

Of interest, Colonel Lucien Greathouse of the 48th Illinois Infantry is also buried there.  He was killed at the Battle of Atlanta in 1864 at the age of 22.  I'll be writing about his life in my Saw the Elephant Civil War blog today.

--Brock-Perry

McHenry County, Illinois, Not Named for Fort McHenry

We moved out to McHenry County, Illinois, twenty-five years ago and for a very long time I was sure that the county was named after Fort McHenry.  It turns out it wasn't.

It was named for William McHenry of Illinois.

He also fought in the War of 1812.

For more information on him, click on the label below.

--Brock-Perry

William McHenry, McHenry County (Illinois) Namesake-- Part 2: Fought the Indians

In 1811, William McHenry served in the Illinois militia during Tecumseh's War, which culminated in the Battle of Tippecanoe in the Indiana Territory.  In the War of 1812, he participated in the attack on the Indian village at Peoria, which was allied with the British.

After the war, he was a delegate to the Illinois Constitutional Convention in 1818, which led to statehood in 1819.  Then he was elected to the first Illinois House of Representatives.

During the Blackhawk War in 1832, he was a major of the Mounted Spies.  He became ill during the campaigning and was mustered out at age 61.  Immediately, he was elected to the Illinois Senate.

He died in 1835 in a boarding house in Vandalia, Illinois, which was then the capital of Illinois.

When McHenry County was formed in 1836 out of Cook (Chicago) and LaSalle counties and it was named after him.

What's In a Name.  --Brock-Perry

Major William McHenry, McHenry (Illinois) County's Namesake-- Part 1: From Kentucky

From Wikipedia

I had always though McHenry County, Illinois, where we live, was named for Baltimore's Fort McHenry, but just found out a short time ago that it was named for Major William McHenry.

William McHenry was an early Illinois politician and soldier.

He is believed to have been born in 1771 and married Hannah Ruth Blackford in the late 1790s in Logan County, Kentucky.  He served as a lieutenant in Price's Battalion of Mounted Volunteers and participated in thye Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, near modern day Toledo, Ohio.

McHenry moved from Henderson County, Kentucky, in 1810 and settled in what is now White County, Illinois, along the trail near the old salt works in Shawneetown, Illinois, and Fort Vincennes.

--Brock-Perry