Franklin County Homelands

At the corner of Bolen Store and Green Mountain roads in Eastern Twp, Franklin Co, Illinois, stands Mount Etna Methodist Church. Alongside the church is a stone tablet stating that the church was organized in 1822 by Rev. John Launius (the tablet misspells the name), Edward Sullivan, Thomas Summers, and their wives. A written history of the church reveals “The meetings at first were held in brush harbors and in the people’s homes, the home of Thomas Summers being used most. This home was located a little more than a quarter of a mile east of the present site of the church.” Thomas Summers Sr's family, who were in Sumner Co, Tennessee, in 1820, had moved to Franklin Co by 1822.

The church founders had close ties. In Franklin Co at least eleven of Reverend Launius's descendants wedded a Summers, every one related to Thomas. And three of Edward Sullivan's daughters married two of Thomas's sons. (One son, Braxton Parrish Summers, was married twice, to Sullivan sisters.) 

Typical home of early Franklin Co settlers (H. M. Aiken,
Franklin County History, Centennial Edition, 1918.)

When Thomas Summers Sr arrived around 1822, Franklin Co was  still on the frontier. The first permanent European residents had showed up just a few years earlier, around 1812. Thomas was probably the first person with the name "Summers" to live in the county. The 1820 Franklin Co census shows not a single person with that name. By 1870, 168 people with the name “Summers,”  resided in Franklin Co, 132 of them in Eastern Twp. Most, possibly all, were related to Thomas, mainly descendants, but also siblings, cousins, nieces, nephews, and Summers spouses.

Franklin has twelve civil townships – Goode, Barren, Ewing, Northern, Tyrone, Browning, Benton, Eastern, Six Mile, Denning, Frankfort, Cave. Most of the Summers families lived in Eastern Twp. A few lived in Cave and Northern townships. And later some migrated into Frankfort and Denning townships.

Franklin Co, 1870 (Atlas of Illinois, Warner and Beers, 1870).

In 1853 Thomas received 80 acres in Section 28 of what corresponds to Eastern Twp for his military service in the War of 1812. His new property was just down the road from Mt. Etna Church. In the 1850s and 1860s Thomas Sr’s sons William K, James, Elias, Alexander, Peter, and Braxton Parrish purchased properties near their father’s bounty land. One of those sons, William K. would continue the Wittenberg Summers Line when Thomas Sr died 5 Oct 1864. 

But before leaving Franklin Co, we have a shocking tale to reveal. Starting with our next blog, “Little Egypt,” we will see that living in Franklin Co was not all roses for the Summers and other residents. Far, far from it.