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Phelps Origins in Illinois
Thadeus Merrill Phelps
Col. Aaron Noble Phelps, A Pioneer in Illinois
Col. Aaron Noble Phelps is descended from George Phelps and Phillura Randall Phelps, pioneer settlers of Windsor, Connecticut.
My third great-grandfather Aaron Noble Phelps was a Captain in Footes Regiment, Massachusetts Militia, during the War of 1812, Aaron died in Massachusetts after the war.
His son Ronald Aaron Noble Phelps was born on 9 Sep 1819 in Westfield, Massachusetts. Sixteen year old Noble, as he was called in contemporary accounts, left Massachusetts among a party of 37 people, with his mother Clarissa Root Phelps, his two sisters Seraphina and Sybelana (his father having died in 1830). This group came to be known as the ill-fated boat party.
"McClean county's population at the close of the decade [1830 was about] 7,000 settlers within the limits of the county. In 1835 Knoxville with a population of two hundred people was the chief town. A year later Galesburg, which was destined to be the most important city of the county, was founded. In 1834 Rev. George W. Gale of Oneida county, New York, matured a plan for planting a colony in the West which should be a center of moral and intellectual influence. Later he issued a circular setting forth his plan and soliciting subscribers. A committee for exploration was sent out and upon its recommendation the present site of Galesburg was purchased in 1835. Early in the next year a colony of forty persons left New York and came by canal boat up the Illinois river to a convenient landing place, traveling from there overland. Log City was the name first given to the settlement and by 1837 its populatpn was estimated at two hundred and thirty. In ten townships settlements had been located before 1840 but it seems nearly impossible to determine their size." (6)
According to the Knox College history, "On June 2, 1837, the first colonists arrived in a wagon train and settled temporarily at Log City [near current Lake Storey], three miles northwest of the present site of Galesburg." At the time of Mr. Phelps' arrival in Illinois, the amount of his worldly possessions at that time was enough to buy a box stove and a cow, valued at $30, or about $17,000 in inflated 2008 dollars.(2)
Clarissa was the sister of Riley Root and brought his daughters Dancy and Clarissa west, along with her brother's son, Moses. A generous spirit, she later took charge of two additional children, sons of Dr. Gordon Grant.
Aaron Noble Phelps bought 200 acres of land north of Wataga, Illinois, where he established one of the finest farms in the county.
Noble Phelps served in William McMurty's company of Rangers in Knox Country, Illinois, during the Blackhawk Indian Wars.
"During the war, William McMurtry organized a company of Rangers of about eighty-nine, which embraced nearly all that were fit for service in Knox, Warren, and Mercer counties. They were all mounted, each man furnishing his own rifle and horse. They pursued the Indians in all directions but were never engaged in battle."(1)
Knox College was founded by the same social reformers in 1837 who opposed slavery and were committed to help all individuals uncover their potential, to learn, grow and contribute to the greater good of the community. Galesburg was home to the first anti-slavery society in the state of Illinois, also organized in 1837, and was a stop on the underground railroad. Real railroads played a key role in Galesburg's history.
The first railroad came to Galesburg in 1854, causing no amount of unhappiness with the residents of Knoxville, the county seat. The settlers later founded the pioneer First Church of Christ in Galesburg.
The genealogy Phelps Family in America gives Ronald's name as "Roger." My grandfather, Harold B. Phelps Sr., penciled this out and inserted "Ronald". He also corrected Ronald's birth year from 1812 to 1819. The book also gives his death at Wataga, Illinois, which my grandfather has crossed out, but not corrected. Noble is buried in the Hope Cemetery in Galesburg, Illinois.
(1) 1899 Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois Knox County
(2) History of Knox County, It's Cities, Towns, and People by Albert J. Perry, Chicago. The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company. 1912. p. 840.
(3) History of Knox County, p. 489
(4) Illustration from Atlas Map of Knox County, Illinois, Andreas, Lyter & Company, Davenport, 1870, 91 pages. Scanned by Todd Walter.
(5) History of Knox County, p. 836.
(6) Pooley, William Vipond The Settlement of Illinois from 1830 to 1850 University of Wisconsin. 1908. p. 122