Early American census documents reveal that Patsy YOUNG was born to Mr. and Mrs. Samuel YOUNG in the 1790s, in the era following her father's service in the Revolutionary War. The exact date and specific location of Patsy YOUNG's birth has not been fully documented, but it is believed she was born in Tennessee, probably during the time when George & Martha Washington were the U.S. President and First Lady. When Patsy YOUNG was born, there were just a scattering of hand-stitched stars on the American flag, during the time when more frontier states were being added to our country.
Patsy's parents, Mr. & Mrs. Samuel YOUNG, had six children. Their two sons and four daughters were named James, Matthew, Jane, Elizabeth, Patsy, and Nancy. During Patsy's girlhood years, her mother, Mrs. Samuel YOUNG died, leaving Captain Samuel YOUNG a widower with six children.
Events that occurred during Patsy YOUNG Albert's earliest years included the opening of the White House in 1800; the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 during the U.S. Presidency of Thomas Jefferson; Lewis & Clark's historic expedition to the American West with their Corps of Discovery team and faithful guide Sacajawea; and the burning of the White House and other key buildings in Washington, D.C. by British soldiers during the War of 1812 when James & Dolley Madison were U.S. President and First Lady.
Patsy YOUNG's father had lived in a great number of localities through the years. Eventually, he decided to bring all of his children to settle in what would eventually become Marion County, Illinois. In the years previous to his permanent settlement in what became Marion County, Illinois, Captain Samuel YOUNG had settled in Shawneetown, Illinois, in the very early 1800s. Not completely satisfied, he migrated on to New Madrid, Missouri, where he settled for a short time and built a cabin. His log cabin was destroyed by the famous New Madrid earthquake in Missouri on November 16, 1811. After the earthquake, Captain Samuel YOUNG and his youngest child, Matthew YOUNG, decided to return to Shawneetown, Illinois, exploring more of Illinois Territory along their journey. While on this expedition, they arrived in what would eventually become Marion County, Illinois. Captain Samuel YOUNG arrived there in late December 1811, with his youngest son Matthew YOUNG, while the rest of his family remained back in the Southern region.
Marion County historian, Professor J.H.G. Brinkerhoff described the scene in these words: "Samuel YOUNG and the boy, Matthew (YOUNG), determined to return to Shawneetown (Illinois), as they had had quite enough of New Madrid (Missouri), but concluded to explore more of the Illinois country on the way back. They came up the river to Kaskaskia, and started with the few belongings they had saved at the time of the destruction of their New Madrid home (from the 1811 earthquake). With a rifle each, a little meal, a skillet or two, and a few such necessary articles as they might carry, started on foot and alone on the old Vincennes Trace across the wilderness. They arrived in (what would eventually become) Marion County (Illinois) late in December, 1811, and as there was heavy snow falling, they resolved to camp for the winter near a band of friendly Indians. The spot selected was on the bank of the creek southwest from the city of Salem about six miles ...(Crooked Creek) Here they constructed a rude camp, first selecting a huge log for the north wall; with poles and brush and bark, they formed the sides and top, leaving most of the south side open, before which they kept a fire burning, and thus in what to them was comfort they passed the winter of 1811 and 1812."
Marion County historian, Professor J.H.G. Brinkerhoff, recorded the story of the YOUNG family's permanent settlement as a family in Marion County in these words. This event was a milestone in the life story of Patsy YOUNG Albert as she arrived in this part Illinois Territory with her widowed father, Captain Samuel YOUNG, and the rest of her siblings:
"With the spring they resumed their journey, and as (Capt. Samuel YOUNG) had found a land to suit him he resolved to return to Tennessee and bring the whole family to Illinois. This he accomplished in 1813, accompanied by ... the other children, and bringing with them such conveniences and necessaries as the times afforded or demanded. They brought some stock (livestock) also with them, having driven them all the way on foot. They brough also horses, wagons, and a few farm implements, the inevitable spinning wheel, as well as seeds and provisions of meal, and that article so necessary in all communities, salt. They arrived in Marion County in the month of August, 1813. When Captain YOUNG (and his children) came to the county in 1813, there were no white settlers on the west nearer than Carlyle (Illinois), then little more than a fort or blockhouse ... built in 1811 as a past for the Illinois Rangers, for the protection of outlying settlements ... in 1813 the nearest neighbors on the west were at least a good twenty-five miles away ... The only paths of travel or trails as then called, crossing the county (Marion County, Illinois) were the Vincennes Trail, the Vincennes & Saint Louis Trail ... and the trail known as the Goshen Road ..."
Marion County history books state that Captain Samuel YOUNG and his family first camped on the ground now occupied by the city of Salem, Illinois, and built their campfire where the courthouse now stands today. This location was timber break, with everything else to the west of it being native prairie. This prairie was infested with green-headed flies, which were a constant torment to the family' horses. In order to get rid of the green-headed flies, Captain Samuel YOUNG and his sons set fire to the timber. This fire then spread over several hundreds of acres of timber and prairie. Soon after their arrival in Illinois Territory in 1813, a two-hour hailstorm blanketed the area with hailstones that were the size of a hen's egg. The hailstorm was of such severity, that some of the horses were crippled by the hailstones. After the hailstorm, there were several inches of ice left on the ground. These details reveal some of the very first pioneer experiences of Patsy YOUNG Albert's life following her arrival in Illinois Territory.
The first published history of Marion County, Illinois, was published in 1881 and is entitled THE HISTORY OF MARION AND CLINTON COUNTIES, ILLINOIS, and was published by Brink-McDonough Company. Members of the YOUNG & ALBERT family provided recollections and memories of their first arrival in what became Marion County, including Patsy YOUNG Albert's youngest brother, Matthew YOUNG. These memories provide a direct and first-hand account of events from Patsy YOUNG Albert's early years and her arrival in Marion County with her widowed father in these words:
"It has been found by no means an easy task to determine to whome belongs the honor of having been the pioneer settlers of this county (Marion County, Illinois) ... However, from the evidence at hand which has been carefully collected from all available sources, this distinction is believed to belong to Captain Samuel YOUNG ... who, in 1813 ... settled near Salem ... The first to brave the wilds of this uninhabited territory was the pioneer, Captain Samuel YOUNG ... Captain YOUNG was a native of Virginia, whence he moved at an early day to Tennessee, and thence to Illinois, settling in 1803 near the site of the present city of Shawneetown. He shortly afterward went with his family to New Madrid, Missouri, where his house was utterly destroyed in the terrible earthquake of 1811 ... and he again turned his face toward the great prairie state (Illinois) ... In a short time, he returned to Illinois, and in August of the year already mentioned (August 1813), 'amid flies and wild beasts,' took his permanent abode in this county ... After considerable prospecting and wandering, he finally squatted on Section 16, Salem Township (Marion County, Illinois) in 1813. At this time he was a widower, his wife having died in Tennessee the year before the family left that state ... He (Captain Samuel YOUNG) was accompanied to this county (Marion County, Illinois) by his son-in-law Robert Snodgrass, and his six children, four daughters and two sons, named as follows Jane, James, Patsy, Betty, Nancy, and Matthew ... of whom Matthew, the youngest son, is the sole survivor, and the oldest pioneer now living in Marion County ... Matthew YOUNG was eleven years old when he returned with his father from Missouri and settled here (in Marion County, Illinois). His father (Captain Samuel YOUNG) at first camped near where the Salem court-house now stands ... This was then just in the edge of the timber ... The first house built in the county (Marion County, Illinois) was the log cabin erected for a residence in 1813 by Captain Samuel YOUNG, and stood a few miles south of Salem ... and situation on Section 16. It was a small, comfortable log cabin, with puncheon floor and other belongings peculiar to pioneer times. It was afterwards used for a stable, and at present not a vestige of it remains ...Around his cabin, Mr. (Samuel YOUNG and his sons cultivated a few acres of land, which was the first step toward civilization in Marion County (Illinois) ... This region was at that time full of wild-cats, bears, wolves, elk, deer ... and many other less prominent species of wild animals. His father (Captain Samuel YOUNG) cut a bee-tree within fifty yards of the site of the present court-house, and, having taken out a large amount of fine honey, placed it in a log, which he had hollowed out, and turned another log over it. The next day he went to get the treasure, but found the bears had devoured the honey and departed. At the time it was impossible, on account of wild animals, to raise hogs, sheep, calves, or even chickens, unless they were herded by day and guarded by night. Indians, too, were then numerous here. As many as seven or eight hundred could be seen at one time, assembled for the purpose of hunting. The prairies were infested with myriads of green-headed and other kinds of horse-flies, which were a constant torment to the horses, and rendered them almost unfit for service ... In order to save their horses from the green-headed flies, then so numerous, they set fire to the timber. The weather being dry, the fire spread over hundreds of acres of prairie and timber ... Matthew YOUNG (youngest child of Captain Samuel YOUNG) remembers the great storm that swept over this section in 1813. It hailed constantly for two hours, doing great damage to the timber and severely crippling some of their horses. Hail-stones as large as hens' eggs fell, and at the conclusion of the storm the ground was covered with several inches of ice. The family of YOUNGS lived on jerked venison which had been cut in thin slices and hung up around their cabin. The first year, they had to purchase at Saint Louis what corn they needed. Honey, venison, and bear bacon constituted their daily bill of fare, and the same dishes were reversed when variety was desired ...Honey was one of the principal articles of diet among the pioneers ... From all accounts given, bee trees in early days were so common that it was hardly necessary to hunt for them. One informant says that ... then they could go into the timber and find a half-dozen or more bee-trees within one or two hours. Mr. Matthew YOUNG (son of Captain Samuel YOUNG) states that he has aided in taking (honey) combs from the body of a jack-oak tree, ten feet in length, and extended from the roots of the tree as many feet upward. That when the bit of the axe cut through the roots, the honey would follow it. Their manner of conveying it home, was to fill sacks provided for the purpose, with combs, and then sling them across the back of a horse, and their trail homeward could be easily traced by the thick drops of honey on either side of the path, that had escaped from the sacks by oozing through the sides ...All the early settlements were along the skirts of the timber, where logs could be easily secured to erect cabins, school-houses, and churches ... Game was plentiful in pionner times, such as deer, wolves, prairie chickens, wild turkeys ... Perch and cat fish were found in the streams ... The winter of 1813-1814 being very severe, most of the streams were frozen solid, so that the horses and cattle suffered greatly for want of water ... Not a soul lived in this part of the country then; they were monarchs of all they could survey. Mr. (Samuel) YOUNG remained here until his death ... Captain (Samuel) YOUNG died on the old homestead, near Salem, in 1846."
Frontiersmen Morris Birbeck & George Flower explored Illinois Territory during the 1810s & described the Illinois frontier that Patsy YOUNG and her family would have seen when she first arrived in these words: "A small cabin & low fence greeted our eyes. A few steps more, and a beautiful prairie suddenly opened to our view. At first, we only received the impressions of its general beauty. With longer gaze, all its distinctive features were revealed, lying in profound repose under the warm light of an afternoon summer's sun ... its varied surface interspersed with clumps of oaks of centuries' growth, its tall grass, with seed stalks from six to ten feet high, like tall & slender reeds waving in a gentle breeze ... the eye wandered up a long stretch of prairie ... with our arms raised above our brows, we gazed long & steadily, drinking in the beauties of the scene which had been so long the object of our search."
In historian Solon J. Buck's book entitled ILLINOIS IN 1818, was this reflection: "A striking characteristic of these people was their love of the frontier ... they packed up their few possessions & pushed into the interior. These people were true pioneers; they had become experts in grappling with frontier conditions. They blazed the trail for the more permanent settlers who were to follow ... a part of them became permanent settlers themselves ... the real explanation is to be found in the irresistible attraction which the wilderness exerted upon these people. They were essentially frontiersmen (and frontierswomen); they preferred life in the woods ... they had a reckless hope of finding something better a little farther on ... they were always ready to take a sportsman's chance on the unknown."
Early pioneers related that the journey to Illinois Territory in those days was often arduous and difficult, especially for families with numerous children. The journey to Illinois was often described as a long, tedious, and dangerous expedition for pioneer families. This migration to Illinois Territory was a major turning point in the history of this branch of the YOUNG family. Marion County, Illinois, became the home to several succeeding generations of Patsy YOUNG Albert's family, some of whom still reside there today.
With miles of travel awaiting them, the YOUNG family would have had countless creeks, streams, and rivers waiting in their pathway to ford. Migrating pioneer families, like the YOUNG family, rose before dawn to prepare for each day's journey and usually traveled until sundown, when they would set up camp for the night. Descendants today can envision Patsy YOUNG Albert and her siblings and her widowed father, Captain Samuel YOUNG, camping out on the frontier each night in the light of a campfire under starlit skies.
Today's generation can envision Patsy as she helped prepare meals and tended to the needs of her younger siblings during the journey. She would have shouldered responsibilities such as meal preparation, cooking, laundry, bedding, campsite preparations, and the welfare of her family during their journey to the prairie lands of Illinois Territory. Each ensuing mile brought them closer and closer to their destination, with scenes of America's natural landscape all around them.
After arriving in Illinois Territory during the War of 1812 era with her widowed father and her siblings in her early life, Patsy YOUNG Albert spent the rest of her life living in Illinois. At the time that they settled in Illinois Territory, James & Dolley Madison were the U.S. President & First Lady. Today, Patsy YOUNG Albert is known as one of the very first settlers of Illinois Territory, with her father being recognized as the first white settler of what eventually became Marion County, Illinois. Early county histories indicate most of these earliest settlers simply became land squatters, without formally holding any legal titles to the land when they first arrived.
Marion County historian, Professor J.H.G. Brinkerhoff described the frontier area where Patsy YOUNG Albert and her family settled when they first arrived in Illinois Territory in these words:
"The first settler in Salem Township (Marion County, Illinois) was also the first settler in the county, as has been related in the sketch of the county. His name was Captain Samuel YOUNG, and from him is derived the numberous families of YOUNGS in this part of the country. He was a widower when he came to the county and had a large family ... soon (Captain Samuel YOUNG) turned over ... the carest of the farm, while Captain Samuel YOUNG put in his time hunting and fishing, and in other backwoods occupations ... Marion County was literally overrun by wild beasts, they having withdrawn from a nearer proximity to the settlements. Wild cats, bears, and an occasional panther or 'painter' as the pioneers called them, wolves, with the smaller and less dangerous animals rendered stock raising a task that required alll the care and watchfulness of the settler and his family. Elk, deer, buffalo, with many other less prominent species of wild food animals provided meats, and often attracted large bands of Indians to the bounteous hunting grounds of Marion County, as many as five hundred at times camping on some stream ... "
Pioneer families from the 1800s described Marion County as an area covered with timber lands & prairie lands, sprinkled with small creeks, streams, & water springs. Early Marion County pioneers like Patsy YOUNG Albert and her family found an abundance of native trees as a resource for hand-crafted furniture, wagons, wooden utensils, animal yokes, tools, fences, implements, barrels, fuel, and for the building of their log cabins.
These early Marion County settlers like Patsy YOUNG Albert and her family found timber lands covered with a magnificent growth of native trees such as oak, elm, birch, sycamore, maple, buckeye, sassafrass, cottonwood, paw paw, hawthorn, ash, black cherry, locust, serviceberry, hazelnut, box elder, poplar, linden, basswood, hackberry, butternut, black walnut, willow, gum, sugar, hornbeam, hickory, beech, red cedar, haw, persimmon, tulip, bittersweet, alder, and Kentucky coffee trees, all native to Marion County. Pioneer settlers also found red mulberries, wild plums, wild cherries, crabapples, wild gooseberries, currants, chokecherries, elderberries, blackberries, summer grapes, frost grapes, black raspberries, red raspberries, wild strawberries, & prairie roses.
These early 1800s settlers recalled that some the prairie grasses grew "as tall as a man's head, riding on horseback" when they first arrived in Marion County, Illinois. Native berries, roots, fruit, wild nuts, acorns, & bark provided additional food for the pioneer food table, supplemental food for livestock, fabric dyes, home-remedy medicines, and other items useful to Marion County settlers.
Marion County's 1881 early history book by Brink-McDonough detailed pioneer life experiences as settlers first arrived in Marion County in these words:
"His first labor was to fell trees & erect his unpretentious cabin, which was rudely made of logs, & into the raising of which he had the cheerful aid of his neighbors. A huge fireplace was built at one end of the house, in which fire was kindled for cooking purposes ... which furnished the needed warmth in the winter."
Professor J.H.G Brinkerhoff described the experience of early pioneer settlers like Patsy YOUNG Albert & her family in these words: "The home of the settler was at first usually a one-room, log cabin, to which were added a room or two as necessity and opportunity required or permitted ... All lived in log houses which were very poorly provided with light, a hole in the wall serving as a window, but minus the glass. They were all provided with wide, deep fireplaces, with back and jambs made of flat rocks placed in mortar to protect the wood from the fire. The fireplace had to be made so as to take in a large quantity of big wood to make sufficient heat to keep the family reasonably comfortable."
Early county history books reveal that Captain Samuel YOUNG squatted on Section #16 of what became rural Salem Township in Marion County, Illinois, along Vermillion Creek, which is also sometimes known as "Dead Man's Creek."
There he built a small log cabin for his family, with a puncheon floor. Samuel YOUNG and his children did not plant any crops upon their arrival in August of 1813. They lived off the products of the forests, including jerked venison, bear bacon, and wild honey. Whatever corn they needed had to be purchased from Saint Louis. Their first winter as Illinois Territory settlers in 1813-1814 was severely cold. The streams were frozen solid and their livestock suffered from lack of water. Afterwards, in the spring of 1814, Captain Samuel YOUNG and his sons planted the first crops in Marion County's history.
In 1816, Miss Patsy YOUNG, the daughter of Revolutionary War soldier Capt. Samuel YOUNG, married Pvt. Jacob "Jake" ALBERT in what eventually became Marion County, Illinois. Patsy YOUNG and Jacob ALBERT's courtship & subsequent wedding ceremony in 1816 in Illinois Territory is known as the very first wedding ceremony in the history of what eventually became Marion County, Illinois.
Patsy YOUNG & Jacob ALBERT were married when James & Dolley Madison were the U.S. President & First Lady. The earliest history book of Marion County was Brink-McDonough's 1881 HISTORY OF MARION & CLINTON COUNTIES, ILLINOIS, which honored Patsy YOUNG's marriage to Jacob ALBERT in these words:
"The first marriage (in the history of Marion County, Illinois) occurred in 1816, the contracting parties were Jacob ALBERT & Miss Patsy YOUNG. Mr. ALBERT was a soldier in the War of 1812. The ceremony was performed by Abijah Lee, a Justice of the Peace."
Jacob ALBERT's arrival & subsequent marriage to Miss Patsy YOUNG was honored in another section of the same history book in these words:
"Jacob & William ALBERT (brothers to each other) arrived in this county (Marion County) from (Kentucky) about the same time Captain (Samuel) YOUNG came (to Marion County). Jacob ALBERT married Captain Young's daughter, Patsy, in 1816, the ceremony being performed by a justice of the peace named Abijah Lee."
Patsy YOUNG Albert, the new bride, had arrived in Marion County with her siblings & widowed father, Capt. Samuel YOUNG, just previous to Pvt. Jacob ALBERT's arrival after his military service to the United States during the War of 1812. Patsy & Jacob's wedding ceremony being known as the first in the history of what became Marion County was honored in another passage in Brink-McDonough's 1881 history of Marion County in these words:
"The first house built in the county was the log cabin erected for a residence in 1813 by Capt. Samuel YOUNG, and stood a few miles south of Salem (Illinois). It was afterward used as a stable, and at present, not a vestige of it remains. The first wedding in the county was that of Jacob ALBERT & Miss Patsy YOUNG in 1816, the ceremony being performed, as elsewhere stated, by a justice of the peace named Abijah Lee. The first white child born in the county (Marion County) was the daughter of the parties just mentioned, which birth occurred in 1817."
Some years later, Professor J.G.H. Brinkerhoff's 1909 HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY, ILLINOIS, was written and he noted the historic wedding of Jacob ALBERT & Patsy YOUNG as follows:
"Shortly after Captain YOUNG (settled in Marion County) ... about that same time two brothers, Jacob & William ALBERT, followed the YOUNGS from the same neighborhood (back in Kentucky). Jacob ALBERT was married to Patsy YOUNG in 1816, by Abijah Lee, acting Justice of the Peace ..."
Professor Brinkerhoff also wrote this in regard to the historic wedding of Jacob ALBERT & Miss Patsy YOUNG:
"The first marriage in the county was Samuel YOUNG's daughter, Patsy, to Jacob ALBERT, a soldier of the second war with Great Britain (The War of 1812). Abijah Lee, a Justice of the Peace, performed the ceremony. This wedding was in 1816. The first child born (in what became Marion County, Illinois) was a daughter of this couple."
Pvt. Jacob ALBERT married Patsy YOUNG and his brother William ALBERT married Nancy YOUNG, both of their brides being daughters of Captain Samuel YOUNG, recognized as the original white settler of Marion County, Illinois. It is believed that the ALBERT family had become acquainted with the YOUNG family back in Kentucky, which led to the migration of the ALBERT family to the same locality as the YOUNG family in what became Marion County, Illinois. Family folklore has suggested that the courtship of the two ALBERT brothers with the two YOUNG family sisters may have begun back in Kentucky.
One can visualize Patsy YOUNG Albert as a new bride setting up a pioneer household with her husband, Pvt. Jacob ALBERT, on the frontier lands of Illinois Territory during the 1810s. One can envision the 1800s pioneer furnishings of their rural frontier home, and the cooking utensils, kettles, and baking implements that Patsy would have used to prepare meals by the fireside & hearth.
Early in their married years, Patsy & Jacob ALBERT's household is shown for the very first time in a historic census taken in 1818, during the frontier history days of Illinois Territory when James Monroe was the U.S. President.
Living in immediate proximity to Jacob ALBERT & his new bride Patsy YOUNG Albert on the Illinois frontier in 1818 were other members of the YOUNG & ALBERT families, including Patsy's widowed father, Captain Samuel YOUNG. In this 1818 census, they were all shown to be living in rural Washington County, Illinois, in an area which soon became part of Marion County, Illinois, when it formed a few years later in 1823.
The 1818 census for Patsy & Jacob's frontier home recorded four members in the household, which would reflect the presence of Jacob ALBERT & Patsy YOUNG Albert as a newlywed pioneer couple & their two oldest children, Nancy & Simon, who were just infants at the time of the 1818 Illinois census. As a young married couple starting a family of their own on the Illinois frontier, Patsy & Jacob ALBERT were already residents when the pioneer settlers of Illinois Territory marked their transition to statehood, when Illinois became an official state on 3 December 1818, becoming known as THE PRAIRIE STATE.
In the early days of Illinois statehood, the 1820 U.S. Federal Census shows Patsy & Jacob ALBERT's household in what was then Northern Township in Jefferson County, Illinois. This historic 1820 census document, hand-written with a quill feather pen during the U.S. Presidency of James Monroe, reflects that Patsy & Jacob ALBERT had already become the parents of two young children, Nancy & Simon, by the time of the 1820 census enumeration. This 1820 census specifically shows that Jacob ALBERT was "engaged in agriculture", as were the other members of the ALBERT & YOUNG families who were all living in immediate proximity to Patsy YOUNG Albert & Jacob ALBERT on the sparsely populated Illinois frontier.
Historians note that this area of Illinois was commonly settled by pioneers from the South, such as the members of the YOUNG & ALBERT family. These Southern settlers were used to outdoor agricultural life & manual farm labor & Southern settlers greatly defined this area of customs & culture. Most of the pioneers who settled in this area of Illinois farmed, hunted, trapped, fished, & utilized the resources of both the prairie & the timber lands.
From his book, ILLINOIS IN 1818, Solon J. Buck included this passage from Illinois historians: "The majority of them were southerners ... before locating in Illinois ... They are hospitable, kind to strangers, honest & trustworthy ... The improvements ... are usually confined to building a rude log cabin, clearing & fencing a small piece of ground for raising Indian corn. A horse, a cow, a few hogs, and some poultry, compromise his livestock ... They are the best marksmen in the world ... Many of them spent a great part of their time ... on hunting excursions, in pursuit of deer, fur, & wild fowl ... dextrous with the ax, they built all our first log-cabins ... Those who stayed at home, contented themselves with cultivating a few acres of Indian corn ... and providing a supply of prairie hay for their cattle & horses ... their little corn-patch increases to a field, their first shanty to a small log-house ... in which the loom & spinning wheel are installed. A well and a few fruit-trees after a time complete the improvement. Moderate in their aspirations, they soon arrive at the summit of their desires."
Patsy YOUNG Albert & Jacob ALBERT became the parents of the following six children, two daughters & four sons, all born on the Illinois frontier:
1. Nancy ALBERT Brawley Craig
2. Simon ALBERT
3. Mary ALBERT Moore Evans
4. Eli ALBERT
5. Levi ALBERT
6. William ALBERT
Their oldest daughter, Nancy, is recognized as the very first child born to white settlers in what later became Marion County, Illinois. It should be noted that two of their sons, Eli & Levi ALBERT, were twins. It is important to note that all of Patsy & Jacob ALBERT's children were among the very first children born in the early history of what became Marion County, Illinois.
The fireside where Patsy YOUNG Albert would have spent so much of her time, preparing meals for her family in their pioneer home was described by Professor Brinkerhoff in these words: "There was some comfort, after all, in retiring before those big fireplaces, if it was not too cold, and in all of them cooking had to be done. A full supply of cooking utensils consisted generally of a skillet, in which all the corndodgers were baked, also biscuits ... a stew-kettle, for cooking meat or vegetables, a tea-kettle for heating water, and a coffee boiler ... "
The earliest pioneer settlers of Marion County, Illinois, shared reflections of what early settlers like Patsy YOUNG Albert & Jacob ALBERT experienced in Brink-McDonough's 1881 history book in these words:
"In the early days, the prairies & forests of this region abounded in game of all kinds. Deer, elk, panthers, wolves, & bears were as plentiful here then as the same animals are now in the wilderness of the far west. It was no uncommon sight to see fifty deer in a gang quietly grazing on the prairies, & in one case even three hundred are reported to have been counted at one time on the ridge ... The region was at that time full of wildcats, bears, wolves, elk, deer, buffalo, & many other less prominent species of wild animals ... Wolves at that time howled through the night & the scream of the panther could be heard in the surrounding woods ... the wilds of this unsettled region, where nightly the forests were made hideous with the howling of wolves, the growling of bears, and the screaming of panthers. Chasing wolves & hunting deer were at that early time the common sport & pastime of the people. Indians, too, were then numerous here. As many as seven or eight hundred could be seen at one time, assembled for the purpose of hunting ... Non finer hunting-grounds could be found than those included within the present limits of Marion & Clinton Counties, and consequently, here assembled from time to time, under their chosen chiefs, the Cahokias and Kaskasias from the west, and the Shawnees from the south, attracted by the bear, elk, deer, and other kinds of game that abounded in this region. It was bands of these tribes that the early white settlers of these two counties encountered when they were building their cabins or ploughing their newly-made fields."
The oldest living settlers of Marion County, including Patsy YOUNG Albert's relatives, shared reminiscences of eating thinly sliced jerked venison which they hung up around their cabins in their earliest days of settlement. They also recalled eating wild honey, bear bacon, & fresh venison in those first years of settlement in Marion County. Recorded in Brink-McDonough's 1881 history book were descriptions of Marion County during the early 1800s when Patsy YOUNG Albert first arrived there:
"Wild meat was plentiful. The settlers generally brought some food with them to last till a crop could be raised. Small patches of Indian corn were raised, which in the earliest days of the settlements, was beaten into a mortar. The (corn) meal was made into a course but wholesome bread ... Johnnycake and (corn) pone were served up at dinner, while mush and milk was the favorite dish for supper ... The streams abounded in fish, which formed a healthful article of food. Many kinds of greens ... were eaten ... the (gardens) furnished roasting ears, pumpkins, beans, squashes, & potatoes, & these were used by all. For reaping-bees, log-rollings, and house-raisings, the standard dish was pot-pie. Coffee & tea were used sparingly ... maple-sugar was much used, & honey ... butter ... (and) eggs ... if one killed hogs, all shared. Chickens were to be seen in great numbers around every doorway; & the gabble of turkey & quack of the duck were heard in the land ... wild grapes & plums were to be found in their season, along the streams ... they sat down to a ... table to eat from tin or pewter dishes; but the meat thereon spread ... the flesh of the deer or bear, or the wild duck or turkey, of the quail or squirrel ... had been won by the skill of the head of the house or of his vigorous sons. The bread they ate was of their own raising. They walked the green carpet of the grand prairie or forest that surrounded them ... "
Early census records & county livestock records indicate that Jacob & Patsy ALBERT were involved in agriculture and owned livestock in Marion County, Illinois. When Marion County, Illinois, was first formed in 1823 during the Presidency of James Monroe, a journal of the "County Cattle Ear Mark Book" was started for these early pioneer families to register their personal livestock ear marks to identify their livestock.
One of the very first registrants on 28 June 1823 was Patsy's husband, Jacob ALBERT. His registered livestock ear mark was described as a "crop of the right ear & half crop of the left ear" in this early Marion County record. In regard to these early livestock registration records, Professor Brinkerhoff of Marion County stated, "Each family had a mark which was recorded and which no other might use. It was actually a cut or cuts, in the ear or both ears ... and stock which had not been seen for months was readily identified, and as everyone knew every other one's mark, neighbors told neighbors where they had seen their stock and these aided the other in the finding."
Shortly after the 1820 Federal Census, John "Simon" ALBERT & Mary Gregor Albert, the parents of Patsy's husband Jacob ALBERT, settled in this same area in Marion County, Illinois, which reunited Jacob ALBERT with his parents. This phenomenon of family members migrating to an area and then encouraging other family members to settle in the same area is known as chain migration.
The arrival of Jacob ALBERT's parents brought together three living generations of the ALBERT family in the very early 1820s. Early family accounts and county records tell us that Patsy & Jacob ALBERT and members of the ALBERT family clustered together in a rural area of Marion County known to the pioneer residents as "The ALBERT Settlement" in the early 1800s. This was situated in a rural area about seven miles west of Salem, Illinois, in an area known to 1800s Marion County pioneers as "White Plains".
A very early county census, filed with the Marion County Clerk on 26 November 1825, showed there were only 557 residents in Marion County in these early days. This 1825 census was taken during the time period when James Monroe was finishing his term as U.S. President and John Quincy Adams was beginning his term as the new U.S. President. Jacob ALBERT is listed as head of household, with Jacob & Patsy ALBERT and their family living in the rural countryside of Marion County. Concerning this 1825 county census, Professor Brinkerhoff's history of Marion County stated, "Of the entire population ... all the rest were farmers and more or less hunters, both as a past-time and as a means of adding to the family larder."
The 1830 Federal Census, taken during the U.S. Presidency of Andrew Jackson, shows that Jacob & Patsy ALBERT were living in very close proximity to several members of the ALBERT and YOUNG families including Jacob's parents, John "Simon" ALBERT & Mary GREGOR Albert, and to Patsy's widowed father, Capt. Samuel YOUNG. This 1830 U.S. Federal Census reflects the presence of Jacob & Patsy YOUNG Albert with their five young children named Nancy, Simon, Mary, Eli, and Levi, who were growing up in the household at that time.
During this time period, pioneer settlers flocked to Illinois during the "Land Rush Days" of the 1830s. The rural areas where Jacob & Patsy ALBERT lived and were raising their children in the 1830s pioneer era was described in James Mason Peck's historic GAZETTEER OF ILLINOIS, which was published in 1834.
His book described Illinois where Jacob & Patsy ALBERT lived in these words: "No state in the 'GREAT WEST' has attracted so much attention, and elicited so many enquiries from those who desire to avail themselves of the advantages of settlement in a new and rising country, as that of Illinois; and none is filling up so rapidly with an emigrating population from all parts of the United States ... Maize (corn) is a staple production. No farmer can live without it, and hundreds raise little else. This is chiefly owing to the ease with which it is cultivated. Garden vegetables can be produced here in vast profusion, and of excellent quality ... The cultivated vegetable productions in the field are maize or Indian corn, wheat, oats, barley, buckwheat, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, rye for horse feed & distilleries, tobacco, cotton, hemp, flax, the castor bean, and every other production common to the middle states ... Marion County lies in the interior of the state ... and embraces the southern part of the Grand Prairie. It has considerable land ... about one-third timber, and the rest, prairie. Considerable post oak timber is found in this county. The county seat is Salem ... "
As years went by, the 1840 Federal Census taken during the U.S. Presidency of Martin Van Buren for the household of Jacob & Patsy ALBERT shows that Jacob ALBERT & his oldest sons were engaged in agriculture together in rural Marion County, Illinois. The 1840 census also reveals that members of the ALBERT & YOUNG family were still living in immediate proximity to Patsy & Jacob ALBERT's rural home, including Patsy's elderly widowed father, Captain Samuel YOUNG, and Jacob ALBERT's elderly parents, John "Simon" ALBERT & Mary GREGOR Albert.
The 1840 U.S. Federal Census shows that Patsy & Jacob ALBERT had a household of nine family members. The 1840 census reflects the presence of Patsy & Jacob ALBERT, together with their four sons Simon, Eli, Levi, & William; their two daughters Nancy & Mary; and likely Patsy & Jacob's new son-in-law, William "Gov" Brawley. Three members of Patsy & Jacob ALBERT's household were reported to be employed in agriculture, as were all of their rural neighbors in the immediate vicinity.
Historical statistics compiled from the 1840 U.S. Federal Census show that nearly every family in Marion County was engaged in agricultural pursuits, including the family of Patsy & Jacob ALBERT. The homes in Marion County were built of wood & timber. The 1840 farm families of Marion County raised primarily corn, oats, wheat, & potatoes, along with smaller quantities of orchard crops, tobacco, cotton, & hay. Careful study of agricultural statistics from 1840 reveal that the farm families of Marion County raised livestock consisting mainly of pigs, cattle, sheep, horses, & poultry. As time passed, these pioneer families planted apple trees, cherry trees, peach trees, strawberries, gooseberries, raspberries, blackberries, & grapes in Marion County.
Agricultural census documents reveal that members of Patsy & Jacob ALBERT's family raised primarily corn in Marion County, Illinois. These agricultural census document also reveal that the ALBERT family owned a few oxen & horses for farming, along with small flocks of sheep, small litters of pigs, & a few milk cows. One can envision the members of Patsy & Jacob ALBERT's family, clearing & plowing land for planting & engaged in their work tasks & daily farm chores through the spring, summer, fall, & winter seasons of the year on the Illinois prairie.
Details from the Agricultural Census reports illuminate pioneer scenes of Patsy & Jacob ALBERT's family using oxen & horses to assist in their field work such as breaking the prairie sod, tilling the soil, plowing, planting, & harvesting. This evokes scenes of their oxen, yoked together as a team, as they pulled the plow through the thick matted roots of the prairie grasses & sod to create furrows in the field for planting. These Agricultural Census documents also reveal that chores such as livestock feeding, the shearing of sheep, the milking of cows, the grooming of horses, the tending of oxen, the feeding of pigs, the churning of homemade butter, country butchering, and summertime gardening were all part of the daily work for members of the ALBERT family.
In the 1800s, the UNITED STATES GAZETTEER described Marion County in these words: "The county (Marion County, Illinois) included a part of the Grand Prairie, and is partly covered with forests. The general surface (of Marion County) is generally undulating; the soil is excellent. Indian corn, wheat, oats, potatoes, castor beans, white beans, and fine fruits flourish, and the prairies provide excellent pasturage for cattle."
Historians of Illinois pioneer life state that the daily chores placed lengthy workdays on pioneer women such as Patsy YOUNG Albert, throughout every season of the year. They describe responsibilities for pioneer women that included the nursing of babies, childcare, laundry, ironing, food gathering, gardening, mending, sewing, cloth production, quilting, housekeeping, meal preparation, cooking, baking, livestock chores, field chores, and giving medical assistance to family members in time of need.
Marion County historian J.H.G. Brinkerhoff described the work of pioneer women such as Patsy YOUNG Albert in these words: "The dress of both men and women was homemade, both as to material and tailoring, and was of the plainest linen for summer and linsey-woolsey for the women in winter, and jeans for the men. All were made by hand, from the stalk or flax or back of the sheep, and the housewife was kept busy from early morn to late at night with (carding combs), or spinning wheel, or loom, and when resting, the knitting needle was ever flying in skillful fingers, fashioning the mitten or socks or comforters for the menfolks, who, in her mind, must always be first provided for ... while the women wore a quilted hood or a small shawl, or the eternal sunbonnet ... The settlers had much to contend with. The women had to spin and weave the cloth to clothe themselves, the men, and the children. The flax had to be grown, cleaned, and spun to make the linen; the sheep had to be raised, sheared, the wool carded and spun from which to make the winter clothes. The stockings had to be knit ... all was done at home. Often ... the women set the ... day for a quilting at some near home, and spent the day quilting and cooking ... Here, also, the women attended to those never neglected duties of the time, knitting, spinning, and weaving ... Every house contained a card-loom and spinning wheels, which were considered by the women as necessary for them as the rifle for men ... Many times, when the men gathered to a log-rolling or barn-raising, the women would assemble, bringing their spinning wheels with them. In this way, sometimes as many as ten or twelve would gather in one room, and the pleasant voices of the fair spinners were mingled with the low hum of the spinning-wheels."
A description of the pioneer era landscape of Marion County, Illinois, was published in the CENTRALIA SENTINEL in the 1800s in these words:
"Situated as I am upon a point commanding at almost one glance, the whole prairie, I can more readily and truthfully speak of its true grandeur as presented to the eye. As you look over it, with one or two exceptions, every house and farm situated on it can be distinctly seen, a sight truly worth witnessing ... Surrounded entirely by a heavy barrier of timber, the (pioneer) who is lucky enough to be in possession of a neat little homestead thereon, may consider (themselves) truly fortunate ..."
As a pioneer wife & mother, Patsy YOUNG Albert prepared hundreds of meals over the fireplace hearth for her family during the 1800s. Marion County historians describe the meal tables of these Illinois pioneers as being filled with venison, fowl, fresh ham, chicken, turkey, duck, wild game meats, poultry, fish, coursely-grained home-baked bread, Johnnycake, hoe cake, corn pone, garden greens, roasting ears of corn, pumpkins, beans, squash, potatoes, peas, beets, cabbage, tomatoes, garden produce, salted meats, smoked meats, berries, fruits, wild nuts, mushrooms, wild plums, wild grapes, wild honey, milk, eggs, home-churned butter, & maple syrup. Marion County historian J.H.G. Brinkerhoff wrote, "The forest furnished meat & Indian corn was the staff of pioneer life."
Historian J.H.G Brinkerhoff described the experiences of the pioneers such as Patsy YOUNG Albert and her husband Jacob ALBERT in these words: "The farmer in those days was poorly provided with teams and mostly oxen were used, consequently they could cultivate only small farms on which enough corn was grown for bran and to feed stock, with the help of prairie hay to feed cattle and horses, and to fatten their hogs, provided they failed to get fat on white oak acorns. But if the pioneer failed to have fat hogs, he could take his rifle and go to the woods and find all the fat deer he wanted, or in fact, any kind of meat he wanted. Both deer and turkey were plentiful ..."
Historians who lived during the 1800s recorded that the early Marion County settlers, hunters, and trappers found an abundance of wildlife such as the American deer, the white-tailed deer, black bear, gray wolf, bobcat, Prairie wolf, gray fox, panther, lynx, weasel, mink, otter, badger, raccoon, opossum, squirrel, woodchuck, muskrat, rabbit, and honeybees. Jacob and Patsy ALBERT's children told their grandchildren that "deer, bear, and other wild game were abundant during our childhood years" in Marion County, Illinois. In those early frontier days, pioneer settlers described the creeks and rivers of Marion County that were filled with catfish, bass, sunfish, perch, buffalo fish, and carp chub fish. In Marion County, the settlers of the 1800s also found the prairie lands and timber lands inhabited by an abundance of wild turkeys, prairie hens, prairie chickens, grouse, quail, snipes, swans, geese, ducks, loons, plovers, and herons.
The 1881 Brink-McDonough history book recording the early experiences of the Marion County pioneer settlers stated: "Game was plentiful in pioneer times, such as deer, wolves, prairie chickens, wild turkeys ... perch and catfish were found in the streams. Honey was one of the principal articles of diet among the pioneers. Bears were occasionally found. Whatever meat was needed, the gun was taken down, and a deer was soon killed. Chasing wolves and hunting deer were at that early time the common sport and pasttime of the people. In the early days, the prairie and forest of this region abounded in game of all kinds. Deer, elk, panthers, wolves, and bears were as plentiful here then as the same animals are now in the wilderness of the far West. It was no uncommon sight to see fifty deer in a gang ... Nearly half the county is timbered land, the other somewhat larger half, prairie. Few spectacles are so inspiringly beautiful as a grand prairie at certain seasons of the year ... The bottom lands have a deep, rich soil. The prairie lands in this county are all rich and productive ... the lower and flatter prairies are well adapted to the growing of maize (corn), oats, barley, flax ... the timbered land is dotted here and there with cabins and dwellings and is being rapidly changed into farms. Farmers have entered what was once a forest, and caused it to bloom and blossom as the rose."
Starting in the early 1840s, Patsy YOUNG Albert & Jacob ALBERT became grandparents for the first time, as their oldest children began marrying & starting families of their own. With Patsy's elderly widowed father, Capt. Samuel YOUNG, and Jacob's elderly parents, John "Simon" ALBERT & Mary GREGOR Albert, still alive, Marion County became home to four living generations of the YOUNG & ALBERT family during the 1840s.
A description of Illinois in the 1800s, written for the time-honored UNITED STATES GAZETTEER describes what Illinois looked like during the pioneer period: "Her wide-spread prairies, decked with flowers of every hue that can gratify the eye, & covered with waving grass, convey, besides their quiet landscape beauty, a feeling of sublimity from their vastness, similar to that created by viewing the ocean ... The prairies are not generally flat, but gracefully undulating, & profusely decked with the greatest variety of beautiful wild flowers of every hue, which ravish the beholder with delight."
As the years went by, Patsy YOUNG Albert & Jacob ALBERT would have marked thirty years of marriage together in Marion County, Illinois. Shortly after the time of their 30th wedding anniversary, documents on file at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and documents on file at the county courthouse in Salem, Marion County, Illinois stated that Patsy YOUNG Albert and her husband, Jacob ALBERT, both died in 1847 in Marion County, Illinois. A legal affidavit filed after their passing stated that Patsy YOUNG Albert "died in the year 1847" and that her husband "Jacob ALBERT died some time in the year of our Lord, 1847."
At the time of their deaths, there were four living ALBERT generations living in Marion County, including Jacob ALBERT's elderly parents, John "Simon" ALBERT & Mary GREGOR Albert. Jacob & Patsy were survived by their six children and some young grandchildren, with their youngest children still living at home at the time of Patsy & Jacob ALBERT's deaths in 1847. Years later, one of Patsy & Jacob ALBERT's younger children stated, "Both my parents died. I was on my own."
In the years following Patsy and Jacob ALBERT's deaths in 1847, their oldest son, Simon ALBERT (1818-1857), was appointed the legals guardian for their youngest son, William ALBERT. Using their late father's Honorable Discharge certificate from the War of 1812, Jacob ALBERT's children proved their father's military service to the United States and a Military Bounty Land Grant of 80 acres was granted in honor of the late Jacob ALBERT, based on the Bounty Land Warrant Act which was passed on 28 September 1850. This 80 acres of Military Bounty Land issued in honor of Jacob ALBERT's military service was issued on 15 April 1853 and was located in Township 2 North, Range 2 East, of the East 1/2 of the Southwest 1/4 of Section # 35, located on the southern edge of rural Salem Township in Marion County, Illinois.
This military land grant was subsequently sold, and the profit from the sale of the land was used for the benefit of Jacob and Patsy's youngest child until he reached adulthood following the deaths of both Jacob & Patsy ALBERT in 1847. Handling the legal case for this Military Bounty Land Warrant for the ALBERT family heirs was Isham Nicholas Haynie (1824 - 1868), who was a lawyer and judge and politician in Marion County, Illinois. It was also Mr. Haynie who subsequently purchased the 80 acres of land from the heirs of Jacob and Patsy ALBERT. Years later, Isham Nicholas Haynie became well known in American history as a lawyer, judge, and also an Adjutant General of Illinois, as well as a Mexican War and Civil War veteran. Ironically, Isham Nicholas Haynie was present at the death of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865, and was part of the official delegation appointed to accompany President Lincoln's body back to Illinois after Lincoln's death.
Documents on file at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. and at the courthouse in Salem, Marion County, Illinois, all state that Jacob and Patsy ALBERT both died in the year 1847. Funerals for early Marion County pioneer settlers from this era in the 1800s were described by historian J.H.G. Brinkerhoff in these words: "Funerals were conducted by the settlers themselves, no undertakers being in the locality. The coffin was generally a plain, wooden box that some settler, handy with tools, made, & the men of the neighborhood, acted as sextons and dug the grave. The coffin was hauled to the burying place on a sled or in a farm wagon, if any distance, and after a prayer by some older man of the community, was deposited by the grave, which was then filled up by relays of the neighbors, all staying until the little mound was shaped & smoothly patted down by the spades of the works. If, as was often the case, the burials was on the land of the family, the body was carried to the grave."
The exact location of Patsy & Jacob ALBERT's gravesite has been the subject of speculation & mystery for several generations. It is strongly believed that Patsy & Jacob ALBERT are buried within the boundaries of Marion County, Illinois, where they had courted, married, and raised their family together after both of them had arrived as young people in the first wave of pioneer settlement in the 1810s. Despite years of historical research, no trace of an existing tombstone for Patsy or Jacob ALBERT has ever been found.
In the years following their deaths in 1847, three of Jacob and Patsy ALBERT's sons joined the Civil War in the 1860s, continuing the record of military service in this family. Two of Jacob and Patsy ALBERT's sons, the twin brothers named Eli ALBERT & Levi ALBERT, served in the Union Army during the Civil War. Pvt. Levi ALBERT died after being wounded as a Union soldier and is buried in the Nashville National Cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee. Jacob and Patsy's youngest son, William ALBERT, who moved to Texas before the Civil War, joined the Confederate Army during the Civil War. This is an example of brothers from the same family serving on two different sides during the Civil War. As the years went by, direct descendants of Jacob and Patsy ALBERT have served in the U.S. military, including several of their descendants who proudly served the U.S.A. during World War II.
Today, any of Patsy YOUNG Albert's descendants would qualify for membership in the Sons or Daughters of the American Revolution Society, based on the Revolutionary War record of her father, Captain Samuel YOUNG.
In recent years, Patsy YOUNG Albert's husband, Pvt. Jacob ALBERT has been recognized by the Illinois WAR OF 1812 Bicentennial Commission as an offical War of 1812 veteran who was buried in the State of Illinois. Today, Jacob ALBERT's War of 1812 military service record would entitle any of Jacob and Patsy ALBERT's living descendants to join the Sons or Daughters of War of 1812 Historical Societies at the state or national level.
The marriage of Miss Patsy YOUNG to Pvt. Jacob ALBERT in Illinois Territory in 1816 would entitle any of Patsy & Jacob's descendants to obtain an official ILLINOIS PRAIRIE PIONEER certificate from the Illinois Genealogical Society. These certificates honor the earliest pioneer settlers in the history of Illinois.
Brink-McDonough's 1881 history book of Marion County, reflected on the legacy of early settlers like Patsy YOUNG Albert in these stirring words: "Time is fast sweeping away the pioneers of our country. Their early trials & privations will soon be forgotten, unless the pen of history records in permanent form the traditions of those yet living ... Memory, the faithful servant of history, loves to treasure up in her mysterious storehouse the reflections of the heroic struggles, the severe privations, & the final triumphs incident to the first settlers of a country. Especially is this true respecting the brave, adventurous (pioneers), who ... when westward the star of empire took its course ... & commenced to subdue the vast wilderness of this western land. Slowly rose the cabins then, where now stands the busy, bustling cities ..."
Marion County historian J.H.G. Brinkerhoff described the experiences of pioneer women like Patsy YOUNG Albert in these words, which provide a fitting tribute to her life & legacy: "They are gone. They sleep on the hilltop or in the valley where loving hands laid them, & the world moves on, & they who labored & loved & suffered & departed in the early days of Marion County, are only a fast disappearing vision of the past ... The early settlers were of a class that has now passed away forever."
Growing up in the Southern region, the pathway of Patsy YOUNG Albert's life always centered upon rural agricultural life. Becoming a pioneer era wife and mother, and eventually tending to the duties of a rural home and farmstead on the Illinois prairie, Patsy's life was deeply rooted in the rural American life experiences of the 1800s.
Patsy YOUNG Albert lived the life of a Revolutionary War patriot's daughter; an early settler of Illinois Territory; the bride of a War of 1812 soldier & veteran; the pioneer mother of six children; an Illinois prairie frontierswoman; the wife of an Illinois farmer; and in her last years, a grandmother.
At the time of Patsy YOUNG Albert's death in 1847 during the Mexican War era in American history, President James K. Polk lived in the White House and there were twenty-nine stars sewn onto the American flag. Her life's journey began in the rural areas of the South and came to an end in the rural areas of Marion County, Illinois. Patsy YOUNG Albert had lived the life of a true American frontierswoman & pioneer settler.
Historian J.H.G. Brinkerhoff wrote of the early Marion County settlers such as Patsy YOUNG Albert when he wrote of the "conditions and difficulties to be met and overcome by the men and women of an age which demanded the best and bravest and called for, not only an indomitable spirit, but a body as well, inured to privations and hardships, inseparable from a pioneer life."
Patsy YOUNG Albert lived during a by-gone era when traveling was done in covered wagons ~~~ with farm fields plowed by horses & oxen ~~~ with her family's laundry scrubbed by hand on a washboard with homemade lye soap ~~~ with patchwork quilts covering feather beds ~~~ with sunbonnets and petticoats and aprons and long dresses to wear ~~~ with clothing stitched with needle and thread ~~~ with heated irons to iron her family's clothing ~~~ with gathering baskets filled with fresh eggs from her flock of chickens ~~~ with livestock chores to tend to each day ~~~ with buckets brimming with fresh milk from the family's milk cows ~~~ with her churn filled with fresh cream for churning into homemade butter ~~~ with garden chores and fresh garden produce gathered during the summer season for her family's table ~~~ with gathering baskets filled with wild berries & herbs ~~~ with homemade loaves of bread and homemade biscuits baking in her farmhouse kitchen ~~~ with home-cooked meals prepared from scratch ~~~ with socks to darn with needle and thread for her husband and children ~~~ with her mending basket filled with thread, sewing needles, knitting needles, pins, and a pair of sewing scissors ~~~ with thin wisps of smoke rising from the chimney of her family's countryside home ~~~ with piles of sheep's wool to wash, comb, card, spin, and weave into homespun cloth ~~~ with a weaving loom and spinning wheel in constant view ~~~ with patchwork quilts and blankets and coverlets and feather pillows to make by hand ~~~ with neighborhood quilting bees to attend ~~~ with firewood and kindling to gather for the fire ~~~ with buckets of water to fetch for the needs of her home and family ~~~ with kettles and cooking pots warming over the fireside hearth ~~~ with plates set all around a large family table for meals with her husband and children ~~~ with food to preserve for the coming winter months each year ~~~ with piles of dishes to wash each day ~~~ with babies to nurse and rock peacefully to sleep in their cradle ~~~ with tending to the medical needs of her family with motherly care ~~~ with beeswax and tallow candles and the glow of the fireplace in the evenings at home with her family. Her life's pathway would have centered upon the cycle of spring planting and fall harvest in a countryside setting.
Professor J.H.G. Brinkerhoff wrote of the Marion County pioneers such as Patsy YOUNG Albert in these words: "Yet it is of these we must write if we are to preserve the records of our people and ... the lives of those who have gone before, and instill into the life of coming generations that love of liberty and independence which characterized ... and made the hardy American pioneer the noblest work of the Creator, unsung heroes and heroines whose bones rest peacefully in the soil their energy conquered, and left a rich heritage to succeeding generations."
Like the carefully hand-sewn stitches of a pioneer patchwork quilt, this biographical account of Patsy YOUNG Albert's life story has been carefully pieced together from early American census records; the Revolutionary War service records of her father, Captain Samuel YOUNG; her husband Jacob ALBERT's treasured military file from the War of 1812; her husband Jacob ALBERT's military bounty land file preserved at the National Archives; early county history books; time-worn documents written in spidery handwriting with quill feather pens dipped in ink; the 1800s Ware & Albert family journal; long-forgotten agricultural census documents; crumbling courthouse records; tattered newspapers from the early 1800s; family history retold by her relatives, grandchildren, & great-grandchildren; and years of dedicated research that was woven together like 1800s homespun cloth by several generations of Patsy YOUNG Albert's descendants. Shared across the miles and through the generations, their research and historical discoveries continue to this very day.
The sun rises and sets each day, casting morning sunlight and evening shadows on the unknown gravesite of Patsy YOUNG Albert, through all the seasons of the year, where she rests in peace as one of Marion County's very earliest settlers.
Today, Patsy YOUNG Albert has hundreds and hundreds of descendants, living from coast to coast. They honor the memory of their American pioneer ancestress and remain her living legacy. Peace to her memory.
Early American census documents reveal that Patsy YOUNG was born to Mr. and Mrs. Samuel YOUNG in the 1790s, in the era following her father's service in the Revolutionary War. The exact date and specific location of Patsy YOUNG's birth has not been fully documented, but it is believed she was born in Tennessee, probably during the time when George & Martha Washington were the U.S. President and First Lady. When Patsy YOUNG was born, there were just a scattering of hand-stitched stars on the American flag, during the time when more frontier states were being added to our country.
Patsy's parents, Mr. & Mrs. Samuel YOUNG, had six children. Their two sons and four daughters were named James, Matthew, Jane, Elizabeth, Patsy, and Nancy. During Patsy's girlhood years, her mother, Mrs. Samuel YOUNG died, leaving Captain Samuel YOUNG a widower with six children.
Events that occurred during Patsy YOUNG Albert's earliest years included the opening of the White House in 1800; the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 during the U.S. Presidency of Thomas Jefferson; Lewis & Clark's historic expedition to the American West with their Corps of Discovery team and faithful guide Sacajawea; and the burning of the White House and other key buildings in Washington, D.C. by British soldiers during the War of 1812 when James & Dolley Madison were U.S. President and First Lady.
Patsy YOUNG's father had lived in a great number of localities through the years. Eventually, he decided to bring all of his children to settle in what would eventually become Marion County, Illinois. In the years previous to his permanent settlement in what became Marion County, Illinois, Captain Samuel YOUNG had settled in Shawneetown, Illinois, in the very early 1800s. Not completely satisfied, he migrated on to New Madrid, Missouri, where he settled for a short time and built a cabin. His log cabin was destroyed by the famous New Madrid earthquake in Missouri on November 16, 1811. After the earthquake, Captain Samuel YOUNG and his youngest child, Matthew YOUNG, decided to return to Shawneetown, Illinois, exploring more of Illinois Territory along their journey. While on this expedition, they arrived in what would eventually become Marion County, Illinois. Captain Samuel YOUNG arrived there in late December 1811, with his youngest son Matthew YOUNG, while the rest of his family remained back in the Southern region.
Marion County historian, Professor J.H.G. Brinkerhoff described the scene in these words: "Samuel YOUNG and the boy, Matthew (YOUNG), determined to return to Shawneetown (Illinois), as they had had quite enough of New Madrid (Missouri), but concluded to explore more of the Illinois country on the way back. They came up the river to Kaskaskia, and started with the few belongings they had saved at the time of the destruction of their New Madrid home (from the 1811 earthquake). With a rifle each, a little meal, a skillet or two, and a few such necessary articles as they might carry, started on foot and alone on the old Vincennes Trace across the wilderness. They arrived in (what would eventually become) Marion County (Illinois) late in December, 1811, and as there was heavy snow falling, they resolved to camp for the winter near a band of friendly Indians. The spot selected was on the bank of the creek southwest from the city of Salem about six miles ...(Crooked Creek) Here they constructed a rude camp, first selecting a huge log for the north wall; with poles and brush and bark, they formed the sides and top, leaving most of the south side open, before which they kept a fire burning, and thus in what to them was comfort they passed the winter of 1811 and 1812."
Marion County historian, Professor J.H.G. Brinkerhoff, recorded the story of the YOUNG family's permanent settlement as a family in Marion County in these words. This event was a milestone in the life story of Patsy YOUNG Albert as she arrived in this part Illinois Territory with her widowed father, Captain Samuel YOUNG, and the rest of her siblings:
"With the spring they resumed their journey, and as (Capt. Samuel YOUNG) had found a land to suit him he resolved to return to Tennessee and bring the whole family to Illinois. This he accomplished in 1813, accompanied by ... the other children, and bringing with them such conveniences and necessaries as the times afforded or demanded. They brought some stock (livestock) also with them, having driven them all the way on foot. They brough also horses, wagons, and a few farm implements, the inevitable spinning wheel, as well as seeds and provisions of meal, and that article so necessary in all communities, salt. They arrived in Marion County in the month of August, 1813. When Captain YOUNG (and his children) came to the county in 1813, there were no white settlers on the west nearer than Carlyle (Illinois), then little more than a fort or blockhouse ... built in 1811 as a past for the Illinois Rangers, for the protection of outlying settlements ... in 1813 the nearest neighbors on the west were at least a good twenty-five miles away ... The only paths of travel or trails as then called, crossing the county (Marion County, Illinois) were the Vincennes Trail, the Vincennes & Saint Louis Trail ... and the trail known as the Goshen Road ..."
Marion County history books state that Captain Samuel YOUNG and his family first camped on the ground now occupied by the city of Salem, Illinois, and built their campfire where the courthouse now stands today. This location was timber break, with everything else to the west of it being native prairie. This prairie was infested with green-headed flies, which were a constant torment to the family' horses. In order to get rid of the green-headed flies, Captain Samuel YOUNG and his sons set fire to the timber. This fire then spread over several hundreds of acres of timber and prairie. Soon after their arrival in Illinois Territory in 1813, a two-hour hailstorm blanketed the area with hailstones that were the size of a hen's egg. The hailstorm was of such severity, that some of the horses were crippled by the hailstones. After the hailstorm, there were several inches of ice left on the ground. These details reveal some of the very first pioneer experiences of Patsy YOUNG Albert's life following her arrival in Illinois Territory.
The first published history of Marion County, Illinois, was published in 1881 and is entitled THE HISTORY OF MARION AND CLINTON COUNTIES, ILLINOIS, and was published by Brink-McDonough Company. Members of the YOUNG & ALBERT family provided recollections and memories of their first arrival in what became Marion County, including Patsy YOUNG Albert's youngest brother, Matthew YOUNG. These memories provide a direct and first-hand account of events from Patsy YOUNG Albert's early years and her arrival in Marion County with her widowed father in these words:
"It has been found by no means an easy task to determine to whome belongs the honor of having been the pioneer settlers of this county (Marion County, Illinois) ... However, from the evidence at hand which has been carefully collected from all available sources, this distinction is believed to belong to Captain Samuel YOUNG ... who, in 1813 ... settled near Salem ... The first to brave the wilds of this uninhabited territory was the pioneer, Captain Samuel YOUNG ... Captain YOUNG was a native of Virginia, whence he moved at an early day to Tennessee, and thence to Illinois, settling in 1803 near the site of the present city of Shawneetown. He shortly afterward went with his family to New Madrid, Missouri, where his house was utterly destroyed in the terrible earthquake of 1811 ... and he again turned his face toward the great prairie state (Illinois) ... In a short time, he returned to Illinois, and in August of the year already mentioned (August 1813), 'amid flies and wild beasts,' took his permanent abode in this county ... After considerable prospecting and wandering, he finally squatted on Section 16, Salem Township (Marion County, Illinois) in 1813. At this time he was a widower, his wife having died in Tennessee the year before the family left that state ... He (Captain Samuel YOUNG) was accompanied to this county (Marion County, Illinois) by his son-in-law Robert Snodgrass, and his six children, four daughters and two sons, named as follows Jane, James, Patsy, Betty, Nancy, and Matthew ... of whom Matthew, the youngest son, is the sole survivor, and the oldest pioneer now living in Marion County ... Matthew YOUNG was eleven years old when he returned with his father from Missouri and settled here (in Marion County, Illinois). His father (Captain Samuel YOUNG) at first camped near where the Salem court-house now stands ... This was then just in the edge of the timber ... The first house built in the county (Marion County, Illinois) was the log cabin erected for a residence in 1813 by Captain Samuel YOUNG, and stood a few miles south of Salem ... and situation on Section 16. It was a small, comfortable log cabin, with puncheon floor and other belongings peculiar to pioneer times. It was afterwards used for a stable, and at present not a vestige of it remains ...Around his cabin, Mr. (Samuel YOUNG and his sons cultivated a few acres of land, which was the first step toward civilization in Marion County (Illinois) ... This region was at that time full of wild-cats, bears, wolves, elk, deer ... and many other less prominent species of wild animals. His father (Captain Samuel YOUNG) cut a bee-tree within fifty yards of the site of the present court-house, and, having taken out a large amount of fine honey, placed it in a log, which he had hollowed out, and turned another log over it. The next day he went to get the treasure, but found the bears had devoured the honey and departed. At the time it was impossible, on account of wild animals, to raise hogs, sheep, calves, or even chickens, unless they were herded by day and guarded by night. Indians, too, were then numerous here. As many as seven or eight hundred could be seen at one time, assembled for the purpose of hunting. The prairies were infested with myriads of green-headed and other kinds of horse-flies, which were a constant torment to the horses, and rendered them almost unfit for service ... In order to save their horses from the green-headed flies, then so numerous, they set fire to the timber. The weather being dry, the fire spread over hundreds of acres of prairie and timber ... Matthew YOUNG (youngest child of Captain Samuel YOUNG) remembers the great storm that swept over this section in 1813. It hailed constantly for two hours, doing great damage to the timber and severely crippling some of their horses. Hail-stones as large as hens' eggs fell, and at the conclusion of the storm the ground was covered with several inches of ice. The family of YOUNGS lived on jerked venison which had been cut in thin slices and hung up around their cabin. The first year, they had to purchase at Saint Louis what corn they needed. Honey, venison, and bear bacon constituted their daily bill of fare, and the same dishes were reversed when variety was desired ...Honey was one of the principal articles of diet among the pioneers ... From all accounts given, bee trees in early days were so common that it was hardly necessary to hunt for them. One informant says that ... then they could go into the timber and find a half-dozen or more bee-trees within one or two hours. Mr. Matthew YOUNG (son of Captain Samuel YOUNG) states that he has aided in taking (honey) combs from the body of a jack-oak tree, ten feet in length, and extended from the roots of the tree as many feet upward. That when the bit of the axe cut through the roots, the honey would follow it. Their manner of conveying it home, was to fill sacks provided for the purpose, with combs, and then sling them across the back of a horse, and their trail homeward could be easily traced by the thick drops of honey on either side of the path, that had escaped from the sacks by oozing through the sides ...All the early settlements were along the skirts of the timber, where logs could be easily secured to erect cabins, school-houses, and churches ... Game was plentiful in pionner times, such as deer, wolves, prairie chickens, wild turkeys ... Perch and cat fish were found in the streams ... The winter of 1813-1814 being very severe, most of the streams were frozen solid, so that the horses and cattle suffered greatly for want of water ... Not a soul lived in this part of the country then; they were monarchs of all they could survey. Mr. (Samuel) YOUNG remained here until his death ... Captain (Samuel) YOUNG died on the old homestead, near Salem, in 1846."
Frontiersmen Morris Birbeck & George Flower explored Illinois Territory during the 1810s & described the Illinois frontier that Patsy YOUNG and her family would have seen when she first arrived in these words: "A small cabin & low fence greeted our eyes. A few steps more, and a beautiful prairie suddenly opened to our view. At first, we only received the impressions of its general beauty. With longer gaze, all its distinctive features were revealed, lying in profound repose under the warm light of an afternoon summer's sun ... its varied surface interspersed with clumps of oaks of centuries' growth, its tall grass, with seed stalks from six to ten feet high, like tall & slender reeds waving in a gentle breeze ... the eye wandered up a long stretch of prairie ... with our arms raised above our brows, we gazed long & steadily, drinking in the beauties of the scene which had been so long the object of our search."
In historian Solon J. Buck's book entitled ILLINOIS IN 1818, was this reflection: "A striking characteristic of these people was their love of the frontier ... they packed up their few possessions & pushed into the interior. These people were true pioneers; they had become experts in grappling with frontier conditions. They blazed the trail for the more permanent settlers who were to follow ... a part of them became permanent settlers themselves ... the real explanation is to be found in the irresistible attraction which the wilderness exerted upon these people. They were essentially frontiersmen (and frontierswomen); they preferred life in the woods ... they had a reckless hope of finding something better a little farther on ... they were always ready to take a sportsman's chance on the unknown."
Early pioneers related that the journey to Illinois Territory in those days was often arduous and difficult, especially for families with numerous children. The journey to Illinois was often described as a long, tedious, and dangerous expedition for pioneer families. This migration to Illinois Territory was a major turning point in the history of this branch of the YOUNG family. Marion County, Illinois, became the home to several succeeding generations of Patsy YOUNG Albert's family, some of whom still reside there today.
With miles of travel awaiting them, the YOUNG family would have had countless creeks, streams, and rivers waiting in their pathway to ford. Migrating pioneer families, like the YOUNG family, rose before dawn to prepare for each day's journey and usually traveled until sundown, when they would set up camp for the night. Descendants today can envision Patsy YOUNG Albert and her siblings and her widowed father, Captain Samuel YOUNG, camping out on the frontier each night in the light of a campfire under starlit skies.
Today's generation can envision Patsy as she helped prepare meals and tended to the needs of her younger siblings during the journey. She would have shouldered responsibilities such as meal preparation, cooking, laundry, bedding, campsite preparations, and the welfare of her family during their journey to the prairie lands of Illinois Territory. Each ensuing mile brought them closer and closer to their destination, with scenes of America's natural landscape all around them.
After arriving in Illinois Territory during the War of 1812 era with her widowed father and her siblings in her early life, Patsy YOUNG Albert spent the rest of her life living in Illinois. At the time that they settled in Illinois Territory, James & Dolley Madison were the U.S. President & First Lady. Today, Patsy YOUNG Albert is known as one of the very first settlers of Illinois Territory, with her father being recognized as the first white settler of what eventually became Marion County, Illinois. Early county histories indicate most of these earliest settlers simply became land squatters, without formally holding any legal titles to the land when they first arrived.
Marion County historian, Professor J.H.G. Brinkerhoff described the frontier area where Patsy YOUNG Albert and her family settled when they first arrived in Illinois Territory in these words:
"The first settler in Salem Township (Marion County, Illinois) was also the first settler in the county, as has been related in the sketch of the county. His name was Captain Samuel YOUNG, and from him is derived the numberous families of YOUNGS in this part of the country. He was a widower when he came to the county and had a large family ... soon (Captain Samuel YOUNG) turned over ... the carest of the farm, while Captain Samuel YOUNG put in his time hunting and fishing, and in other backwoods occupations ... Marion County was literally overrun by wild beasts, they having withdrawn from a nearer proximity to the settlements. Wild cats, bears, and an occasional panther or 'painter' as the pioneers called them, wolves, with the smaller and less dangerous animals rendered stock raising a task that required alll the care and watchfulness of the settler and his family. Elk, deer, buffalo, with many other less prominent species of wild food animals provided meats, and often attracted large bands of Indians to the bounteous hunting grounds of Marion County, as many as five hundred at times camping on some stream ... "
Pioneer families from the 1800s described Marion County as an area covered with timber lands & prairie lands, sprinkled with small creeks, streams, & water springs. Early Marion County pioneers like Patsy YOUNG Albert and her family found an abundance of native trees as a resource for hand-crafted furniture, wagons, wooden utensils, animal yokes, tools, fences, implements, barrels, fuel, and for the building of their log cabins.
These early Marion County settlers like Patsy YOUNG Albert and her family found timber lands covered with a magnificent growth of native trees such as oak, elm, birch, sycamore, maple, buckeye, sassafrass, cottonwood, paw paw, hawthorn, ash, black cherry, locust, serviceberry, hazelnut, box elder, poplar, linden, basswood, hackberry, butternut, black walnut, willow, gum, sugar, hornbeam, hickory, beech, red cedar, haw, persimmon, tulip, bittersweet, alder, and Kentucky coffee trees, all native to Marion County. Pioneer settlers also found red mulberries, wild plums, wild cherries, crabapples, wild gooseberries, currants, chokecherries, elderberries, blackberries, summer grapes, frost grapes, black raspberries, red raspberries, wild strawberries, & prairie roses.
These early 1800s settlers recalled that some the prairie grasses grew "as tall as a man's head, riding on horseback" when they first arrived in Marion County, Illinois. Native berries, roots, fruit, wild nuts, acorns, & bark provided additional food for the pioneer food table, supplemental food for livestock, fabric dyes, home-remedy medicines, and other items useful to Marion County settlers.
Marion County's 1881 early history book by Brink-McDonough detailed pioneer life experiences as settlers first arrived in Marion County in these words:
"His first labor was to fell trees & erect his unpretentious cabin, which was rudely made of logs, & into the raising of which he had the cheerful aid of his neighbors. A huge fireplace was built at one end of the house, in which fire was kindled for cooking purposes ... which furnished the needed warmth in the winter."
Professor J.H.G Brinkerhoff described the experience of early pioneer settlers like Patsy YOUNG Albert & her family in these words: "The home of the settler was at first usually a one-room, log cabin, to which were added a room or two as necessity and opportunity required or permitted ... All lived in log houses which were very poorly provided with light, a hole in the wall serving as a window, but minus the glass. They were all provided with wide, deep fireplaces, with back and jambs made of flat rocks placed in mortar to protect the wood from the fire. The fireplace had to be made so as to take in a large quantity of big wood to make sufficient heat to keep the family reasonably comfortable."
Early county history books reveal that Captain Samuel YOUNG squatted on Section #16 of what became rural Salem Township in Marion County, Illinois, along Vermillion Creek, which is also sometimes known as "Dead Man's Creek."
There he built a small log cabin for his family, with a puncheon floor. Samuel YOUNG and his children did not plant any crops upon their arrival in August of 1813. They lived off the products of the forests, including jerked venison, bear bacon, and wild honey. Whatever corn they needed had to be purchased from Saint Louis. Their first winter as Illinois Territory settlers in 1813-1814 was severely cold. The streams were frozen solid and their livestock suffered from lack of water. Afterwards, in the spring of 1814, Captain Samuel YOUNG and his sons planted the first crops in Marion County's history.
In 1816, Miss Patsy YOUNG, the daughter of Revolutionary War soldier Capt. Samuel YOUNG, married Pvt. Jacob "Jake" ALBERT in what eventually became Marion County, Illinois. Patsy YOUNG and Jacob ALBERT's courtship & subsequent wedding ceremony in 1816 in Illinois Territory is known as the very first wedding ceremony in the history of what eventually became Marion County, Illinois.
Patsy YOUNG & Jacob ALBERT were married when James & Dolley Madison were the U.S. President & First Lady. The earliest history book of Marion County was Brink-McDonough's 1881 HISTORY OF MARION & CLINTON COUNTIES, ILLINOIS, which honored Patsy YOUNG's marriage to Jacob ALBERT in these words:
"The first marriage (in the history of Marion County, Illinois) occurred in 1816, the contracting parties were Jacob ALBERT & Miss Patsy YOUNG. Mr. ALBERT was a soldier in the War of 1812. The ceremony was performed by Abijah Lee, a Justice of the Peace."
Jacob ALBERT's arrival & subsequent marriage to Miss Patsy YOUNG was honored in another section of the same history book in these words:
"Jacob & William ALBERT (brothers to each other) arrived in this county (Marion County) from (Kentucky) about the same time Captain (Samuel) YOUNG came (to Marion County). Jacob ALBERT married Captain Young's daughter, Patsy, in 1816, the ceremony being performed by a justice of the peace named Abijah Lee."
Patsy YOUNG Albert, the new bride, had arrived in Marion County with her siblings & widowed father, Capt. Samuel YOUNG, just previous to Pvt. Jacob ALBERT's arrival after his military service to the United States during the War of 1812. Patsy & Jacob's wedding ceremony being known as the first in the history of what became Marion County was honored in another passage in Brink-McDonough's 1881 history of Marion County in these words:
"The first house built in the county was the log cabin erected for a residence in 1813 by Capt. Samuel YOUNG, and stood a few miles south of Salem (Illinois). It was afterward used as a stable, and at present, not a vestige of it remains. The first wedding in the county was that of Jacob ALBERT & Miss Patsy YOUNG in 1816, the ceremony being performed, as elsewhere stated, by a justice of the peace named Abijah Lee. The first white child born in the county (Marion County) was the daughter of the parties just mentioned, which birth occurred in 1817."
Some years later, Professor J.G.H. Brinkerhoff's 1909 HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY, ILLINOIS, was written and he noted the historic wedding of Jacob ALBERT & Patsy YOUNG as follows:
"Shortly after Captain YOUNG (settled in Marion County) ... about that same time two brothers, Jacob & William ALBERT, followed the YOUNGS from the same neighborhood (back in Kentucky). Jacob ALBERT was married to Patsy YOUNG in 1816, by Abijah Lee, acting Justice of the Peace ..."
Professor Brinkerhoff also wrote this in regard to the historic wedding of Jacob ALBERT & Miss Patsy YOUNG:
"The first marriage in the county was Samuel YOUNG's daughter, Patsy, to Jacob ALBERT, a soldier of the second war with Great Britain (The War of 1812). Abijah Lee, a Justice of the Peace, performed the ceremony. This wedding was in 1816. The first child born (in what became Marion County, Illinois) was a daughter of this couple."
Pvt. Jacob ALBERT married Patsy YOUNG and his brother William ALBERT married Nancy YOUNG, both of their brides being daughters of Captain Samuel YOUNG, recognized as the original white settler of Marion County, Illinois. It is believed that the ALBERT family had become acquainted with the YOUNG family back in Kentucky, which led to the migration of the ALBERT family to the same locality as the YOUNG family in what became Marion County, Illinois. Family folklore has suggested that the courtship of the two ALBERT brothers with the two YOUNG family sisters may have begun back in Kentucky.
One can visualize Patsy YOUNG Albert as a new bride setting up a pioneer household with her husband, Pvt. Jacob ALBERT, on the frontier lands of Illinois Territory during the 1810s. One can envision the 1800s pioneer furnishings of their rural frontier home, and the cooking utensils, kettles, and baking implements that Patsy would have used to prepare meals by the fireside & hearth.
Early in their married years, Patsy & Jacob ALBERT's household is shown for the very first time in a historic census taken in 1818, during the frontier history days of Illinois Territory when James Monroe was the U.S. President.
Living in immediate proximity to Jacob ALBERT & his new bride Patsy YOUNG Albert on the Illinois frontier in 1818 were other members of the YOUNG & ALBERT families, including Patsy's widowed father, Captain Samuel YOUNG. In this 1818 census, they were all shown to be living in rural Washington County, Illinois, in an area which soon became part of Marion County, Illinois, when it formed a few years later in 1823.
The 1818 census for Patsy & Jacob's frontier home recorded four members in the household, which would reflect the presence of Jacob ALBERT & Patsy YOUNG Albert as a newlywed pioneer couple & their two oldest children, Nancy & Simon, who were just infants at the time of the 1818 Illinois census. As a young married couple starting a family of their own on the Illinois frontier, Patsy & Jacob ALBERT were already residents when the pioneer settlers of Illinois Territory marked their transition to statehood, when Illinois became an official state on 3 December 1818, becoming known as THE PRAIRIE STATE.
In the early days of Illinois statehood, the 1820 U.S. Federal Census shows Patsy & Jacob ALBERT's household in what was then Northern Township in Jefferson County, Illinois. This historic 1820 census document, hand-written with a quill feather pen during the U.S. Presidency of James Monroe, reflects that Patsy & Jacob ALBERT had already become the parents of two young children, Nancy & Simon, by the time of the 1820 census enumeration. This 1820 census specifically shows that Jacob ALBERT was "engaged in agriculture", as were the other members of the ALBERT & YOUNG families who were all living in immediate proximity to Patsy YOUNG Albert & Jacob ALBERT on the sparsely populated Illinois frontier.
Historians note that this area of Illinois was commonly settled by pioneers from the South, such as the members of the YOUNG & ALBERT family. These Southern settlers were used to outdoor agricultural life & manual farm labor & Southern settlers greatly defined this area of customs & culture. Most of the pioneers who settled in this area of Illinois farmed, hunted, trapped, fished, & utilized the resources of both the prairie & the timber lands.
From his book, ILLINOIS IN 1818, Solon J. Buck included this passage from Illinois historians: "The majority of them were southerners ... before locating in Illinois ... They are hospitable, kind to strangers, honest & trustworthy ... The improvements ... are usually confined to building a rude log cabin, clearing & fencing a small piece of ground for raising Indian corn. A horse, a cow, a few hogs, and some poultry, compromise his livestock ... They are the best marksmen in the world ... Many of them spent a great part of their time ... on hunting excursions, in pursuit of deer, fur, & wild fowl ... dextrous with the ax, they built all our first log-cabins ... Those who stayed at home, contented themselves with cultivating a few acres of Indian corn ... and providing a supply of prairie hay for their cattle & horses ... their little corn-patch increases to a field, their first shanty to a small log-house ... in which the loom & spinning wheel are installed. A well and a few fruit-trees after a time complete the improvement. Moderate in their aspirations, they soon arrive at the summit of their desires."
Patsy YOUNG Albert & Jacob ALBERT became the parents of the following six children, two daughters & four sons, all born on the Illinois frontier:
1. Nancy ALBERT Brawley Craig
2. Simon ALBERT
3. Mary ALBERT Moore Evans
4. Eli ALBERT
5. Levi ALBERT
6. William ALBERT
Their oldest daughter, Nancy, is recognized as the very first child born to white settlers in what later became Marion County, Illinois. It should be noted that two of their sons, Eli & Levi ALBERT, were twins. It is important to note that all of Patsy & Jacob ALBERT's children were among the very first children born in the early history of what became Marion County, Illinois.
The fireside where Patsy YOUNG Albert would have spent so much of her time, preparing meals for her family in their pioneer home was described by Professor Brinkerhoff in these words: "There was some comfort, after all, in retiring before those big fireplaces, if it was not too cold, and in all of them cooking had to be done. A full supply of cooking utensils consisted generally of a skillet, in which all the corndodgers were baked, also biscuits ... a stew-kettle, for cooking meat or vegetables, a tea-kettle for heating water, and a coffee boiler ... "
The earliest pioneer settlers of Marion County, Illinois, shared reflections of what early settlers like Patsy YOUNG Albert & Jacob ALBERT experienced in Brink-McDonough's 1881 history book in these words:
"In the early days, the prairies & forests of this region abounded in game of all kinds. Deer, elk, panthers, wolves, & bears were as plentiful here then as the same animals are now in the wilderness of the far west. It was no uncommon sight to see fifty deer in a gang quietly grazing on the prairies, & in one case even three hundred are reported to have been counted at one time on the ridge ... The region was at that time full of wildcats, bears, wolves, elk, deer, buffalo, & many other less prominent species of wild animals ... Wolves at that time howled through the night & the scream of the panther could be heard in the surrounding woods ... the wilds of this unsettled region, where nightly the forests were made hideous with the howling of wolves, the growling of bears, and the screaming of panthers. Chasing wolves & hunting deer were at that early time the common sport & pastime of the people. Indians, too, were then numerous here. As many as seven or eight hundred could be seen at one time, assembled for the purpose of hunting ... Non finer hunting-grounds could be found than those included within the present limits of Marion & Clinton Counties, and consequently, here assembled from time to time, under their chosen chiefs, the Cahokias and Kaskasias from the west, and the Shawnees from the south, attracted by the bear, elk, deer, and other kinds of game that abounded in this region. It was bands of these tribes that the early white settlers of these two counties encountered when they were building their cabins or ploughing their newly-made fields."
The oldest living settlers of Marion County, including Patsy YOUNG Albert's relatives, shared reminiscences of eating thinly sliced jerked venison which they hung up around their cabins in their earliest days of settlement. They also recalled eating wild honey, bear bacon, & fresh venison in those first years of settlement in Marion County. Recorded in Brink-McDonough's 1881 history book were descriptions of Marion County during the early 1800s when Patsy YOUNG Albert first arrived there:
"Wild meat was plentiful. The settlers generally brought some food with them to last till a crop could be raised. Small patches of Indian corn were raised, which in the earliest days of the settlements, was beaten into a mortar. The (corn) meal was made into a course but wholesome bread ... Johnnycake and (corn) pone were served up at dinner, while mush and milk was the favorite dish for supper ... The streams abounded in fish, which formed a healthful article of food. Many kinds of greens ... were eaten ... the (gardens) furnished roasting ears, pumpkins, beans, squashes, & potatoes, & these were used by all. For reaping-bees, log-rollings, and house-raisings, the standard dish was pot-pie. Coffee & tea were used sparingly ... maple-sugar was much used, & honey ... butter ... (and) eggs ... if one killed hogs, all shared. Chickens were to be seen in great numbers around every doorway; & the gabble of turkey & quack of the duck were heard in the land ... wild grapes & plums were to be found in their season, along the streams ... they sat down to a ... table to eat from tin or pewter dishes; but the meat thereon spread ... the flesh of the deer or bear, or the wild duck or turkey, of the quail or squirrel ... had been won by the skill of the head of the house or of his vigorous sons. The bread they ate was of their own raising. They walked the green carpet of the grand prairie or forest that surrounded them ... "
Early census records & county livestock records indicate that Jacob & Patsy ALBERT were involved in agriculture and owned livestock in Marion County, Illinois. When Marion County, Illinois, was first formed in 1823 during the Presidency of James Monroe, a journal of the "County Cattle Ear Mark Book" was started for these early pioneer families to register their personal livestock ear marks to identify their livestock.
One of the very first registrants on 28 June 1823 was Patsy's husband, Jacob ALBERT. His registered livestock ear mark was described as a "crop of the right ear & half crop of the left ear" in this early Marion County record. In regard to these early livestock registration records, Professor Brinkerhoff of Marion County stated, "Each family had a mark which was recorded and which no other might use. It was actually a cut or cuts, in the ear or both ears ... and stock which had not been seen for months was readily identified, and as everyone knew every other one's mark, neighbors told neighbors where they had seen their stock and these aided the other in the finding."
Shortly after the 1820 Federal Census, John "Simon" ALBERT & Mary Gregor Albert, the parents of Patsy's husband Jacob ALBERT, settled in this same area in Marion County, Illinois, which reunited Jacob ALBERT with his parents. This phenomenon of family members migrating to an area and then encouraging other family members to settle in the same area is known as chain migration.
The arrival of Jacob ALBERT's parents brought together three living generations of the ALBERT family in the very early 1820s. Early family accounts and county records tell us that Patsy & Jacob ALBERT and members of the ALBERT family clustered together in a rural area of Marion County known to the pioneer residents as "The ALBERT Settlement" in the early 1800s. This was situated in a rural area about seven miles west of Salem, Illinois, in an area known to 1800s Marion County pioneers as "White Plains".
A very early county census, filed with the Marion County Clerk on 26 November 1825, showed there were only 557 residents in Marion County in these early days. This 1825 census was taken during the time period when James Monroe was finishing his term as U.S. President and John Quincy Adams was beginning his term as the new U.S. President. Jacob ALBERT is listed as head of household, with Jacob & Patsy ALBERT and their family living in the rural countryside of Marion County. Concerning this 1825 county census, Professor Brinkerhoff's history of Marion County stated, "Of the entire population ... all the rest were farmers and more or less hunters, both as a past-time and as a means of adding to the family larder."
The 1830 Federal Census, taken during the U.S. Presidency of Andrew Jackson, shows that Jacob & Patsy ALBERT were living in very close proximity to several members of the ALBERT and YOUNG families including Jacob's parents, John "Simon" ALBERT & Mary GREGOR Albert, and to Patsy's widowed father, Capt. Samuel YOUNG. This 1830 U.S. Federal Census reflects the presence of Jacob & Patsy YOUNG Albert with their five young children named Nancy, Simon, Mary, Eli, and Levi, who were growing up in the household at that time.
During this time period, pioneer settlers flocked to Illinois during the "Land Rush Days" of the 1830s. The rural areas where Jacob & Patsy ALBERT lived and were raising their children in the 1830s pioneer era was described in James Mason Peck's historic GAZETTEER OF ILLINOIS, which was published in 1834.
His book described Illinois where Jacob & Patsy ALBERT lived in these words: "No state in the 'GREAT WEST' has attracted so much attention, and elicited so many enquiries from those who desire to avail themselves of the advantages of settlement in a new and rising country, as that of Illinois; and none is filling up so rapidly with an emigrating population from all parts of the United States ... Maize (corn) is a staple production. No farmer can live without it, and hundreds raise little else. This is chiefly owing to the ease with which it is cultivated. Garden vegetables can be produced here in vast profusion, and of excellent quality ... The cultivated vegetable productions in the field are maize or Indian corn, wheat, oats, barley, buckwheat, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, rye for horse feed & distilleries, tobacco, cotton, hemp, flax, the castor bean, and every other production common to the middle states ... Marion County lies in the interior of the state ... and embraces the southern part of the Grand Prairie. It has considerable land ... about one-third timber, and the rest, prairie. Considerable post oak timber is found in this county. The county seat is Salem ... "
As years went by, the 1840 Federal Census taken during the U.S. Presidency of Martin Van Buren for the household of Jacob & Patsy ALBERT shows that Jacob ALBERT & his oldest sons were engaged in agriculture together in rural Marion County, Illinois. The 1840 census also reveals that members of the ALBERT & YOUNG family were still living in immediate proximity to Patsy & Jacob ALBERT's rural home, including Patsy's elderly widowed father, Captain Samuel YOUNG, and Jacob ALBERT's elderly parents, John "Simon" ALBERT & Mary GREGOR Albert.
The 1840 U.S. Federal Census shows that Patsy & Jacob ALBERT had a household of nine family members. The 1840 census reflects the presence of Patsy & Jacob ALBERT, together with their four sons Simon, Eli, Levi, & William; their two daughters Nancy & Mary; and likely Patsy & Jacob's new son-in-law, William "Gov" Brawley. Three members of Patsy & Jacob ALBERT's household were reported to be employed in agriculture, as were all of their rural neighbors in the immediate vicinity.
Historical statistics compiled from the 1840 U.S. Federal Census show that nearly every family in Marion County was engaged in agricultural pursuits, including the family of Patsy & Jacob ALBERT. The homes in Marion County were built of wood & timber. The 1840 farm families of Marion County raised primarily corn, oats, wheat, & potatoes, along with smaller quantities of orchard crops, tobacco, cotton, & hay. Careful study of agricultural statistics from 1840 reveal that the farm families of Marion County raised livestock consisting mainly of pigs, cattle, sheep, horses, & poultry. As time passed, these pioneer families planted apple trees, cherry trees, peach trees, strawberries, gooseberries, raspberries, blackberries, & grapes in Marion County.
Agricultural census documents reveal that members of Patsy & Jacob ALBERT's family raised primarily corn in Marion County, Illinois. These agricultural census document also reveal that the ALBERT family owned a few oxen & horses for farming, along with small flocks of sheep, small litters of pigs, & a few milk cows. One can envision the members of Patsy & Jacob ALBERT's family, clearing & plowing land for planting & engaged in their work tasks & daily farm chores through the spring, summer, fall, & winter seasons of the year on the Illinois prairie.
Details from the Agricultural Census reports illuminate pioneer scenes of Patsy & Jacob ALBERT's family using oxen & horses to assist in their field work such as breaking the prairie sod, tilling the soil, plowing, planting, & harvesting. This evokes scenes of their oxen, yoked together as a team, as they pulled the plow through the thick matted roots of the prairie grasses & sod to create furrows in the field for planting. These Agricultural Census documents also reveal that chores such as livestock feeding, the shearing of sheep, the milking of cows, the grooming of horses, the tending of oxen, the feeding of pigs, the churning of homemade butter, country butchering, and summertime gardening were all part of the daily work for members of the ALBERT family.
In the 1800s, the UNITED STATES GAZETTEER described Marion County in these words: "The county (Marion County, Illinois) included a part of the Grand Prairie, and is partly covered with forests. The general surface (of Marion County) is generally undulating; the soil is excellent. Indian corn, wheat, oats, potatoes, castor beans, white beans, and fine fruits flourish, and the prairies provide excellent pasturage for cattle."
Historians of Illinois pioneer life state that the daily chores placed lengthy workdays on pioneer women such as Patsy YOUNG Albert, throughout every season of the year. They describe responsibilities for pioneer women that included the nursing of babies, childcare, laundry, ironing, food gathering, gardening, mending, sewing, cloth production, quilting, housekeeping, meal preparation, cooking, baking, livestock chores, field chores, and giving medical assistance to family members in time of need.
Marion County historian J.H.G. Brinkerhoff described the work of pioneer women such as Patsy YOUNG Albert in these words: "The dress of both men and women was homemade, both as to material and tailoring, and was of the plainest linen for summer and linsey-woolsey for the women in winter, and jeans for the men. All were made by hand, from the stalk or flax or back of the sheep, and the housewife was kept busy from early morn to late at night with (carding combs), or spinning wheel, or loom, and when resting, the knitting needle was ever flying in skillful fingers, fashioning the mitten or socks or comforters for the menfolks, who, in her mind, must always be first provided for ... while the women wore a quilted hood or a small shawl, or the eternal sunbonnet ... The settlers had much to contend with. The women had to spin and weave the cloth to clothe themselves, the men, and the children. The flax had to be grown, cleaned, and spun to make the linen; the sheep had to be raised, sheared, the wool carded and spun from which to make the winter clothes. The stockings had to be knit ... all was done at home. Often ... the women set the ... day for a quilting at some near home, and spent the day quilting and cooking ... Here, also, the women attended to those never neglected duties of the time, knitting, spinning, and weaving ... Every house contained a card-loom and spinning wheels, which were considered by the women as necessary for them as the rifle for men ... Many times, when the men gathered to a log-rolling or barn-raising, the women would assemble, bringing their spinning wheels with them. In this way, sometimes as many as ten or twelve would gather in one room, and the pleasant voices of the fair spinners were mingled with the low hum of the spinning-wheels."
A description of the pioneer era landscape of Marion County, Illinois, was published in the CENTRALIA SENTINEL in the 1800s in these words:
"Situated as I am upon a point commanding at almost one glance, the whole prairie, I can more readily and truthfully speak of its true grandeur as presented to the eye. As you look over it, with one or two exceptions, every house and farm situated on it can be distinctly seen, a sight truly worth witnessing ... Surrounded entirely by a heavy barrier of timber, the (pioneer) who is lucky enough to be in possession of a neat little homestead thereon, may consider (themselves) truly fortunate ..."
As a pioneer wife & mother, Patsy YOUNG Albert prepared hundreds of meals over the fireplace hearth for her family during the 1800s. Marion County historians describe the meal tables of these Illinois pioneers as being filled with venison, fowl, fresh ham, chicken, turkey, duck, wild game meats, poultry, fish, coursely-grained home-baked bread, Johnnycake, hoe cake, corn pone, garden greens, roasting ears of corn, pumpkins, beans, squash, potatoes, peas, beets, cabbage, tomatoes, garden produce, salted meats, smoked meats, berries, fruits, wild nuts, mushrooms, wild plums, wild grapes, wild honey, milk, eggs, home-churned butter, & maple syrup. Marion County historian J.H.G. Brinkerhoff wrote, "The forest furnished meat & Indian corn was the staff of pioneer life."
Historian J.H.G Brinkerhoff described the experiences of the pioneers such as Patsy YOUNG Albert and her husband Jacob ALBERT in these words: "The farmer in those days was poorly provided with teams and mostly oxen were used, consequently they could cultivate only small farms on which enough corn was grown for bran and to feed stock, with the help of prairie hay to feed cattle and horses, and to fatten their hogs, provided they failed to get fat on white oak acorns. But if the pioneer failed to have fat hogs, he could take his rifle and go to the woods and find all the fat deer he wanted, or in fact, any kind of meat he wanted. Both deer and turkey were plentiful ..."
Historians who lived during the 1800s recorded that the early Marion County settlers, hunters, and trappers found an abundance of wildlife such as the American deer, the white-tailed deer, black bear, gray wolf, bobcat, Prairie wolf, gray fox, panther, lynx, weasel, mink, otter, badger, raccoon, opossum, squirrel, woodchuck, muskrat, rabbit, and honeybees. Jacob and Patsy ALBERT's children told their grandchildren that "deer, bear, and other wild game were abundant during our childhood years" in Marion County, Illinois. In those early frontier days, pioneer settlers described the creeks and rivers of Marion County that were filled with catfish, bass, sunfish, perch, buffalo fish, and carp chub fish. In Marion County, the settlers of the 1800s also found the prairie lands and timber lands inhabited by an abundance of wild turkeys, prairie hens, prairie chickens, grouse, quail, snipes, swans, geese, ducks, loons, plovers, and herons.
The 1881 Brink-McDonough history book recording the early experiences of the Marion County pioneer settlers stated: "Game was plentiful in pioneer times, such as deer, wolves, prairie chickens, wild turkeys ... perch and catfish were found in the streams. Honey was one of the principal articles of diet among the pioneers. Bears were occasionally found. Whatever meat was needed, the gun was taken down, and a deer was soon killed. Chasing wolves and hunting deer were at that early time the common sport and pasttime of the people. In the early days, the prairie and forest of this region abounded in game of all kinds. Deer, elk, panthers, wolves, and bears were as plentiful here then as the same animals are now in the wilderness of the far West. It was no uncommon sight to see fifty deer in a gang ... Nearly half the county is timbered land, the other somewhat larger half, prairie. Few spectacles are so inspiringly beautiful as a grand prairie at certain seasons of the year ... The bottom lands have a deep, rich soil. The prairie lands in this county are all rich and productive ... the lower and flatter prairies are well adapted to the growing of maize (corn), oats, barley, flax ... the timbered land is dotted here and there with cabins and dwellings and is being rapidly changed into farms. Farmers have entered what was once a forest, and caused it to bloom and blossom as the rose."
Starting in the early 1840s, Patsy YOUNG Albert & Jacob ALBERT became grandparents for the first time, as their oldest children began marrying & starting families of their own. With Patsy's elderly widowed father, Capt. Samuel YOUNG, and Jacob's elderly parents, John "Simon" ALBERT & Mary GREGOR Albert, still alive, Marion County became home to four living generations of the YOUNG & ALBERT family during the 1840s.
A description of Illinois in the 1800s, written for the time-honored UNITED STATES GAZETTEER describes what Illinois looked like during the pioneer period: "Her wide-spread prairies, decked with flowers of every hue that can gratify the eye, & covered with waving grass, convey, besides their quiet landscape beauty, a feeling of sublimity from their vastness, similar to that created by viewing the ocean ... The prairies are not generally flat, but gracefully undulating, & profusely decked with the greatest variety of beautiful wild flowers of every hue, which ravish the beholder with delight."
As the years went by, Patsy YOUNG Albert & Jacob ALBERT would have marked thirty years of marriage together in Marion County, Illinois. Shortly after the time of their 30th wedding anniversary, documents on file at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and documents on file at the county courthouse in Salem, Marion County, Illinois stated that Patsy YOUNG Albert and her husband, Jacob ALBERT, both died in 1847 in Marion County, Illinois. A legal affidavit filed after their passing stated that Patsy YOUNG Albert "died in the year 1847" and that her husband "Jacob ALBERT died some time in the year of our Lord, 1847."
At the time of their deaths, there were four living ALBERT generations living in Marion County, including Jacob ALBERT's elderly parents, John "Simon" ALBERT & Mary GREGOR Albert. Jacob & Patsy were survived by their six children and some young grandchildren, with their youngest children still living at home at the time of Patsy & Jacob ALBERT's deaths in 1847. Years later, one of Patsy & Jacob ALBERT's younger children stated, "Both my parents died. I was on my own."
In the years following Patsy and Jacob ALBERT's deaths in 1847, their oldest son, Simon ALBERT (1818-1857), was appointed the legals guardian for their youngest son, William ALBERT. Using their late father's Honorable Discharge certificate from the War of 1812, Jacob ALBERT's children proved their father's military service to the United States and a Military Bounty Land Grant of 80 acres was granted in honor of the late Jacob ALBERT, based on the Bounty Land Warrant Act which was passed on 28 September 1850. This 80 acres of Military Bounty Land issued in honor of Jacob ALBERT's military service was issued on 15 April 1853 and was located in Township 2 North, Range 2 East, of the East 1/2 of the Southwest 1/4 of Section # 35, located on the southern edge of rural Salem Township in Marion County, Illinois.
This military land grant was subsequently sold, and the profit from the sale of the land was used for the benefit of Jacob and Patsy's youngest child until he reached adulthood following the deaths of both Jacob & Patsy ALBERT in 1847. Handling the legal case for this Military Bounty Land Warrant for the ALBERT family heirs was Isham Nicholas Haynie (1824 - 1868), who was a lawyer and judge and politician in Marion County, Illinois. It was also Mr. Haynie who subsequently purchased the 80 acres of land from the heirs of Jacob and Patsy ALBERT. Years later, Isham Nicholas Haynie became well known in American history as a lawyer, judge, and also an Adjutant General of Illinois, as well as a Mexican War and Civil War veteran. Ironically, Isham Nicholas Haynie was present at the death of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865, and was part of the official delegation appointed to accompany President Lincoln's body back to Illinois after Lincoln's death.
Documents on file at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. and at the courthouse in Salem, Marion County, Illinois, all state that Jacob and Patsy ALBERT both died in the year 1847. Funerals for early Marion County pioneer settlers from this era in the 1800s were described by historian J.H.G. Brinkerhoff in these words: "Funerals were conducted by the settlers themselves, no undertakers being in the locality. The coffin was generally a plain, wooden box that some settler, handy with tools, made, & the men of the neighborhood, acted as sextons and dug the grave. The coffin was hauled to the burying place on a sled or in a farm wagon, if any distance, and after a prayer by some older man of the community, was deposited by the grave, which was then filled up by relays of the neighbors, all staying until the little mound was shaped & smoothly patted down by the spades of the works. If, as was often the case, the burials was on the land of the family, the body was carried to the grave."
The exact location of Patsy & Jacob ALBERT's gravesite has been the subject of speculation & mystery for several generations. It is strongly believed that Patsy & Jacob ALBERT are buried within the boundaries of Marion County, Illinois, where they had courted, married, and raised their family together after both of them had arrived as young people in the first wave of pioneer settlement in the 1810s. Despite years of historical research, no trace of an existing tombstone for Patsy or Jacob ALBERT has ever been found.
In the years following their deaths in 1847, three of Jacob and Patsy ALBERT's sons joined the Civil War in the 1860s, continuing the record of military service in this family. Two of Jacob and Patsy ALBERT's sons, the twin brothers named Eli ALBERT & Levi ALBERT, served in the Union Army during the Civil War. Pvt. Levi ALBERT died after being wounded as a Union soldier and is buried in the Nashville National Cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee. Jacob and Patsy's youngest son, William ALBERT, who moved to Texas before the Civil War, joined the Confederate Army during the Civil War. This is an example of brothers from the same family serving on two different sides during the Civil War. As the years went by, direct descendants of Jacob and Patsy ALBERT have served in the U.S. military, including several of their descendants who proudly served the U.S.A. during World War II.
Today, any of Patsy YOUNG Albert's descendants would qualify for membership in the Sons or Daughters of the American Revolution Society, based on the Revolutionary War record of her father, Captain Samuel YOUNG.
In recent years, Patsy YOUNG Albert's husband, Pvt. Jacob ALBERT has been recognized by the Illinois WAR OF 1812 Bicentennial Commission as an offical War of 1812 veteran who was buried in the State of Illinois. Today, Jacob ALBERT's War of 1812 military service record would entitle any of Jacob and Patsy ALBERT's living descendants to join the Sons or Daughters of War of 1812 Historical Societies at the state or national level.
The marriage of Miss Patsy YOUNG to Pvt. Jacob ALBERT in Illinois Territory in 1816 would entitle any of Patsy & Jacob's descendants to obtain an official ILLINOIS PRAIRIE PIONEER certificate from the Illinois Genealogical Society. These certificates honor the earliest pioneer settlers in the history of Illinois.
Brink-McDonough's 1881 history book of Marion County, reflected on the legacy of early settlers like Patsy YOUNG Albert in these stirring words: "Time is fast sweeping away the pioneers of our country. Their early trials & privations will soon be forgotten, unless the pen of history records in permanent form the traditions of those yet living ... Memory, the faithful servant of history, loves to treasure up in her mysterious storehouse the reflections of the heroic struggles, the severe privations, & the final triumphs incident to the first settlers of a country. Especially is this true respecting the brave, adventurous (pioneers), who ... when westward the star of empire took its course ... & commenced to subdue the vast wilderness of this western land. Slowly rose the cabins then, where now stands the busy, bustling cities ..."
Marion County historian J.H.G. Brinkerhoff described the experiences of pioneer women like Patsy YOUNG Albert in these words, which provide a fitting tribute to her life & legacy: "They are gone. They sleep on the hilltop or in the valley where loving hands laid them, & the world moves on, & they who labored & loved & suffered & departed in the early days of Marion County, are only a fast disappearing vision of the past ... The early settlers were of a class that has now passed away forever."
Growing up in the Southern region, the pathway of Patsy YOUNG Albert's life always centered upon rural agricultural life. Becoming a pioneer era wife and mother, and eventually tending to the duties of a rural home and farmstead on the Illinois prairie, Patsy's life was deeply rooted in the rural American life experiences of the 1800s.
Patsy YOUNG Albert lived the life of a Revolutionary War patriot's daughter; an early settler of Illinois Territory; the bride of a War of 1812 soldier & veteran; the pioneer mother of six children; an Illinois prairie frontierswoman; the wife of an Illinois farmer; and in her last years, a grandmother.
At the time of Patsy YOUNG Albert's death in 1847 during the Mexican War era in American history, President James K. Polk lived in the White House and there were twenty-nine stars sewn onto the American flag. Her life's journey began in the rural areas of the South and came to an end in the rural areas of Marion County, Illinois. Patsy YOUNG Albert had lived the life of a true American frontierswoman & pioneer settler.
Historian J.H.G. Brinkerhoff wrote of the early Marion County settlers such as Patsy YOUNG Albert when he wrote of the "conditions and difficulties to be met and overcome by the men and women of an age which demanded the best and bravest and called for, not only an indomitable spirit, but a body as well, inured to privations and hardships, inseparable from a pioneer life."
Patsy YOUNG Albert lived during a by-gone era when traveling was done in covered wagons ~~~ with farm fields plowed by horses & oxen ~~~ with her family's laundry scrubbed by hand on a washboard with homemade lye soap ~~~ with patchwork quilts covering feather beds ~~~ with sunbonnets and petticoats and aprons and long dresses to wear ~~~ with clothing stitched with needle and thread ~~~ with heated irons to iron her family's clothing ~~~ with gathering baskets filled with fresh eggs from her flock of chickens ~~~ with livestock chores to tend to each day ~~~ with buckets brimming with fresh milk from the family's milk cows ~~~ with her churn filled with fresh cream for churning into homemade butter ~~~ with garden chores and fresh garden produce gathered during the summer season for her family's table ~~~ with gathering baskets filled with wild berries & herbs ~~~ with homemade loaves of bread and homemade biscuits baking in her farmhouse kitchen ~~~ with home-cooked meals prepared from scratch ~~~ with socks to darn with needle and thread for her husband and children ~~~ with her mending basket filled with thread, sewing needles, knitting needles, pins, and a pair of sewing scissors ~~~ with thin wisps of smoke rising from the chimney of her family's countryside home ~~~ with piles of sheep's wool to wash, comb, card, spin, and weave into homespun cloth ~~~ with a weaving loom and spinning wheel in constant view ~~~ with patchwork quilts and blankets and coverlets and feather pillows to make by hand ~~~ with neighborhood quilting bees to attend ~~~ with firewood and kindling to gather for the fire ~~~ with buckets of water to fetch for the needs of her home and family ~~~ with kettles and cooking pots warming over the fireside hearth ~~~ with plates set all around a large family table for meals with her husband and children ~~~ with food to preserve for the coming winter months each year ~~~ with piles of dishes to wash each day ~~~ with babies to nurse and rock peacefully to sleep in their cradle ~~~ with tending to the medical needs of her family with motherly care ~~~ with beeswax and tallow candles and the glow of the fireplace in the evenings at home with her family. Her life's pathway would have centered upon the cycle of spring planting and fall harvest in a countryside setting.
Professor J.H.G. Brinkerhoff wrote of the Marion County pioneers such as Patsy YOUNG Albert in these words: "Yet it is of these we must write if we are to preserve the records of our people and ... the lives of those who have gone before, and instill into the life of coming generations that love of liberty and independence which characterized ... and made the hardy American pioneer the noblest work of the Creator, unsung heroes and heroines whose bones rest peacefully in the soil their energy conquered, and left a rich heritage to succeeding generations."
Like the carefully hand-sewn stitches of a pioneer patchwork quilt, this biographical account of Patsy YOUNG Albert's life story has been carefully pieced together from early American census records; the Revolutionary War service records of her father, Captain Samuel YOUNG; her husband Jacob ALBERT's treasured military file from the War of 1812; her husband Jacob ALBERT's military bounty land file preserved at the National Archives; early county history books; time-worn documents written in spidery handwriting with quill feather pens dipped in ink; the 1800s Ware & Albert family journal; long-forgotten agricultural census documents; crumbling courthouse records; tattered newspapers from the early 1800s; family history retold by her relatives, grandchildren, & great-grandchildren; and years of dedicated research that was woven together like 1800s homespun cloth by several generations of Patsy YOUNG Albert's descendants. Shared across the miles and through the generations, their research and historical discoveries continue to this very day.
The sun rises and sets each day, casting morning sunlight and evening shadows on the unknown gravesite of Patsy YOUNG Albert, through all the seasons of the year, where she rests in peace as one of Marion County's very earliest settlers.
Today, Patsy YOUNG Albert has hundreds and hundreds of descendants, living from coast to coast. They honor the memory of their American pioneer ancestress and remain her living legacy. Peace to her memory.