Re: Theron Brownfield Jr: Ill - Ark
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In reply to:
Re: Theron Brownfield Jr: Ill - Ark
Pauline Brandy 7/27/05
Thanks for the response, Pauline. Almost all of the information I have, and the key questions are in the posting, and so I don't want to get you or anybody confused. I'd prefer to send this to you personally, but your email address is not registered with genealogy.com for use.
I'm an Iman, though in history this seems to have often been Eyman. It's an old Swiss German line with a couple of ancestors who arrived 1749-1763 and who lived in PA. It seems they were Mennonite or Amish, though perhaps not strongly church oriented. Some branches were obviously involved in First Reformed in Lancaster, and some were patriots involved in the revolution -- which doesn't sound like anabaptists.
One line of old guys made it to Virginia about 1787. There were many Germans and old Swiss families moving into the Valley of Virginia at the time. Mine made it uphill to Petersburg along the South Branch. A Christian Iman/Eyman had up to 500 acres, a saw mill and a grist mill, with enough horses showing on local taxes that he must have stood tall in the neighborhood. The historian Emmert Bittinger, who chronicled the local Brethren church has this chap down as and old 'dunker'. The congregation was an interesting one though.. an anabaptist group for the most part who were NOT pacifist, and wanted to support old patriots as members. This got the congregation thrown out of Brethren Conferences, and lines blurred, especially among those inspired by Anthony Badgley, an old methodist, whose son David Badgley was a circuit rider in the area. This David Badgley started organizing migrations to Southern Illinois as early as 1796 or so, later heading one rather large migration party, of which more than 50 may have expired of illness. Badgley is considered by most a key founder of the firstBaptist churches in the middle west.. with the Bethel Baptist among them. It seems that Theron Brownfield was a member of that congregation.
I'm still trying to track down the Eyman migrations to Illinois. I've an Abraham Eyman who seems to have been there as early as 1796 with Badgley and a Daniel Stookey on a scouting expedition prior to major migrations. Eyman held over late in one fall, turned ground, and planted, returning to Hardy in preparation for taking his family out the next Spring. Other Imans and Eymans remained in Hardy for a while, and may have been migrating in dribbles until about 1818.
Among the Imans in early Illinois was a Henry Eyman/Iman. He's thought to have been a nephew of Abraham, who was a strong anti-slavery Baptist who got himself elected as representative to the second house for the state of illinois -- a rather strange accomplishment for a German farmer;-) Abraham first had bounty land close to the Mississippi River in today's Monroe County, but soon migrated up onto the prairie -- maybe 30 miles away toward today's Belleville of St. Clair county. Henry married in Hardy after 1800 and went to the area. I think he was in Monroe for part of the time, though census data sometimes seem to list him in the Belleville and St. Clair area. Much to be straightened out here. In the 1820 census, there is some conflict between county and federal accounts. It seems that there was an elder in the Iman household, and so it's conceivable that Henry's father Christian and mother Catherine may have been along. Unfortunately records are very scant. Few records link any of the Imans and Eymans of the day, though the will of Abraham who died toward 1850 did include shared loans of Abraham and Henry to other farmers.
In any case, in Monroe County of Illinois there have recently been released some old course case documents. These are pretty confusing, though they're available in the Illinois archives. In 1830, a Theron Brownfield seems to have been sued for slander by Henry Iman, an established mill owner. Brownfield apparently accused Iman of appropriating grain from Brownfield's storage bins at the mill, and it seems the accusations were rather public and loud -- full of defamatory statements against businessmen who would engage in such practices. The local court was being held in Waterloo of Monroe County with quite a bit of testimony apparently. Brownfield was sued for a rather large amount ($1000?) to cover losses of the business, and there's some evidence of Brownfield's frustration that he could not locate a particular witness who he asserted would easily testify on Brownfield's behalf. Because of the involvement of the neighbors, Brownfield felt that he'd not get a fair trial and asked that the case be turned over to the court in Belleville, which was apparently done. According to records there were several hearings in the mater scheduled in 1831, and then somehow mysteriously the suit seems to have been dropped.
Now, one of my questions, is who is this Brownfield? The dates seem pretty solid to suggest that there was one in Illinois at the time, though Brownfield accounts I've seen suggest that Sr. had already left the area by 1826. His son, also a Theron Brownfeld would have been 17 if he was the character involved in the suit, but would his father have left him in the area when he (Jr.) was 13? I wonder if this was a rather huge embarrassment for Imans and Brownfields, and if perhaps the migration from the area was precipitated by this unfortunate set of events, and if family lore stretched some dates to protect some egos. My understanding of the case is weak though, and if Iman withdrew his suite without pursuing it, you'd think the egg would be on his face;-)
Please do share anything you learn, or any pertinent facts or observations that you run across.
Steve Iman
[email protected]
More Replies:
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Re: Theron Brownfield Jr: Ill - Ark
James Clark 8/13/07