Deacon Winslow Churchill
Deacon Winslow Churchill
Birth: Dec. 30, 1770 Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, USA
Death: Sep. 18, 1847 Glen Ellyn, DuPage County, Illinois, USA
"Deacon Winslow was a farmer and a stonemason. On Thanksgiving Day 1796 he married Mercy Dodge. During the War of 1812 he served on the NY border in the state militia. He was now referred to as the Deacon from his work in the Presbyterian Church. He came to Chicago June 5, 1834. He built a log cabin on St. Charles road near Swift road. He helped make the first roads, helped build the first school house, conducted the first religious meeting, helped build the first church and organized the first Sabbath school. He named the township Milton from the old Churchill home in Mass."
1834: "First white settler at Babcock's Grove (Five Corners) Deacon Winslow Churchill from New York who came to Chicago in the schooner La Grange with his wife, Mercy Dodge Churchill and eleven children, all of the family but one son. Three of the sons also had their families with them. It had one large room, a bedroom, a leanto, a loft where the boys slept, climbing up a rude ladder. The large room had a fireplace where the cooking was done, and two small windows and an outside door facing south. The cabin overlooked a Potowatomi Indian village of 500. It stood on a high hill just east of the bridge over the DuPage River on the north side of Lake Street now St. Charles Road. It was still standing in the '90s but has since been torn down and the hill excavated for gravel. Wild game was plentiful. Droves of wolves howled around the little settlement. The stock was kept in a little leanto and all was enclosed by a stockade, formed by large trees cut and placed close together. Deacon Churchill took up a claim eight years before the land was surveyed paying the government $1.25 an acre."
1835: "First death at Babcock's Grove was that of Amanda Churchill, daughter of Deacon Winslow Churchill. Hers was the first funeral held in the log cabin schoolhouse, the sermon preached by Rev. Pillsbury. She was buried on private grounds, (the Busch farm) but later the remains were removed to Forest Hill cemetery. The stone over her grave still stands, hoary with age.
The inscription reads:
In Memory
of Amanda
Daughter of Deacon Winslow Churchill
and Mercy Dodge Churchill
Who departed this life, June 12 A. D. 1835,
aged 21 years, 1 month and 8 days.
Friend, physician, comforter
This is the body and the clay
This grave can ne'er claim her here
When Jesus calls thee to his home."
1847: "Deacon Winslow Churchill passed away September 18."
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Grandfather: Ebenezer Churchill
Birth: 18 Oct 1705 in Plympton, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States
Death: 7 May 1751 in Plympton, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States
Married: March 18, 1727 Rochester, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States
Grandmother: Leah Keen
Birth: 20 Nov 1702 in Pembroke, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States
Death: 13 Apr 1781 in Plympton, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States
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G-Grandfather: William Churchill
Birth: 2 Aug 1685 in Plympton, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States
Death: 3 Feb 1760 in Plympton, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States
G-Grandmother: Ruth Bryant
Birth: 26 Sept 1685 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States
Death: 24 Mar 1757 in Plympton, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States
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***I was able to trace his lineage back several generations to:
Gitto de Leon
Birth: ??? in Best, Puy-de-Dome, Auvergne, France
Death: 1060 in Andelys, Normandy, France
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His children were:
1) Melinda CHURCHILL
Birth: 24 Jul 1799 in Chittenden, Rutland, Vermont, USA
Death: 8 Nov 1877
2) Betsey CHURCHILL
Birth: 4 Aug 1809 in Camillus, Onondaga, New York, USA
Death: 24 Nov 1905 in Palos, Cook, Illinois, USA
3) Hiram CHURCHILL
Birth: 7 Sept 1820 in Camillus, Onondaga, New York, USA
Death: 1852 in California, USA
Marriage to Prucilla ??? (b.1820)
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Parents:
Father: Isaac Churchill (1736 - 1826)
Mother: Melatiah Bradford Churchill (1744 - 1826)
Spouse: Mercy Dodge Churchill (1774 - 1863)
Children:
William Churchill (1797 - 1879)
Lurania Churchill Ackerman (1802 - 1893)
Christiana Churchill Christian (1802 - 1899)
Seth Churchill (1805 - 1886)
Major Churchill (1807 - 1888)
Winslow Churchill (1812 - 1899)
Amanda Churchill (1814 - 1835)
Isaac Bradford Churchill (1818 - 1906)
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Burial:
Forest Hill Cemetery
Glen Ellyn
DuPage County
Illinois, USA
Plot: Lot 11.
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Research Notes:
1. Ancestry.Com
2. Rootsweb
3. "The Story of an Old Town -- Glen Ellyn" by Ada Douglas Harmon
This file was contributed for use by the DuPage County ILGenWeb Project by:
Michael Harrington, April 17, 2013
Lightseeker77777 AT Comcast DOT Net
Member of:
Warrenville Historical Society, DuPage County, Illinois
Carol Stream Historical Society, DuPage County, Illinois
Glen Ellyn Historical Society, DuPage County, Illinois
Pike County Historical Society, Illinois
DuPage County Historical Society, Illinois
DuPage County Genealogical Society, Illinois
Illinois State Genealogical Society
Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, Israel