ENNIS MAULDINGS in Hamilton County
by Paul Kornmeyer

*Contributed by Sheila Cadwalader 

*This is Chapter 2 of a narrative essay.  Click here for Chapter 1

          Account of Ennis Maulding begins with his marriage to Fanny Crissel in Logan County, KY, on  Dec 4, 1804.  Perhaps this was a second marriage for Ennis Maulding, but records otherwise are devoid of specific data for his family until the territorial census of Illinois in 1818.

          Ennis Maulding Family in 1818:  The White County, Illinois census enumerator, Daniel Hay, on June 3, 1818, recorded that Ennis Maulding was the head of a family of six and no slaves.  The final tabulation showed 3595 souls then residing in White County.  Richard Maulding (uncle of Ennis), James Maulding (brother of Ennis), Ambrose Maulding (father of Ennis) and John Anderson (brother-in-law of Ennis) and their families were enumerated in this same census.  Although the aborigines had been ousted from the area, the environment was still primitive and, perhaps, at times hostile.  Nevertheless, Ennis Maulding patented 80 acres in what is now Knights Prairie Township, Hamilton County, on April 3, 1819.

          Captain of Militia:  Militia service was not unknown to the Mauldings.  On Nov 9, 1819, Ennis Maulding was commissioned Captain of Militia of the Second Brigade of the Second Division, Illinois.  At the same time, John E Maulding, brother of Ennis, was commissioned as lieutenant in the same organization.  Ennis remained in the militia for some time afterward, but his name is next encountered in the U S Census of 1820.

          Ennis Maulding Family in 1820:  Jesse C Lockwood, later Hamilton County Clerk, was commissioner of the census of White County, Illinois, Nov 20, 1820, when Ennis Maulding was entered as head of a family of eight including two sons over 21 years of age.  Here arises a clue to the approximate age of Ennis Maulding and an indication that Fanny Crissel may have been a second spouse.  Assuming a valid and reliable tabulation, Ennis, therefore was previously married, before 1798, and his age is estimated at about 43 years, eg, his birth about 1777.  Advent of two children to the family is recorded for the years 1818-1820.  A growing family requires to be sustained.  How did Ennis Maulding support a family of the size indicated in the census of 1820?

          Gallatin-Vandalia Road:  Ralph Harrelson reporting a Goodspeed account, tells of John Ferguson, Henry Wheeler and Ennis Maulding, appointees to view a road from the Gallatin County line across Hamilton County, Illinois in June 1821.  Road “viewing” might command about $1.50 per day, and there would be other roads to view, mark and lay out.  Index to the laws of 1823, Illinois, page 133, refers to Ennis Maulding’s commission to lay out a road from Vandalia to Shawneetown;  Page 16 of the Laws of 1833 refers to payment.  And there would be other income.

          Inspector of Militia:  Ennis Maulding was “getting on” in the military.  On Jan 10, 1824, he was commissioned inspector of the militia, Third Brigade, Second Division of Illinois Militia.  How long he was enrolled in the militia has not been ascertained.  However the progress of Ennis Maulding in the military, another contract of significance is made in the same year, 1824.

          Elizabeth Maulding-George Mabury:  On July 31, 1824, Elizabeth Maulding, daughter of Ennis Maulding, and George Mabury (Mayberry) were married, probably by Benjamin Hood, justice of the peace, Hamilton County, although the name of the official was not recorded.  Thencefoth, the names of George and Elizabeth (Maulding) Mayberry disappear from the records not to appear again until in the 1830 census in Wayne County.  The Mayberrys had at least three children:  William, Ennis and Jan Carzadd.  Among the descendants of the Reverend William and Elizabeth (Brown) Mayberry is the Reverend Harold H Mayberry of Wane City, Illinois, who recounts that George Mayberry, in the early days of Wayne County, built flatboats to ferry farm products for sale at Shawneetown.

          Although more account of George Mayberry is entered subsequently herein, his apparent removal from Hamilton County should not be overlooked.  Can it be supposed that Ennis Maulding would engage his son-in-law to build and operate a grist and saw mill on the waters of Wayne County ?  Possibly.  Ensues, than a four-year period during which naught is recorded of Ennis Maulding, until Aug 4, 1828 and his election to the Illinois House of Representatives.  Obviously, he would be busy with legislative matters, the intervening U S Census of 1830 notwithstanding.

          Ennis Maulding Family in 1830:  Be it remembered that two sons had been recorded as over 21 years of age in the census of 1820 and that daughter, Elizabeth, married George Mayberry in 1824 and thereafter probably removing from Hamilton County.  Beginning at line 24, page 240 of the census of Hamilton County is the tabulation for the Maulding household:

2 sons under 5 yrs.
2 sons between 10 & 20 yrs.
1 male between 40 & 50 yrs.
1 daughter under 5 yrs.
2 daughters between 10&15 yrs.
1 female between 30&40 years.

          It is here noted that the date of 1820 & 1830  can not be entirely reconciled.  A short discussion of the marital alliances of some of the sons and some of the daughters of Ennis Maulding appears in the subdivisions treating the Maulding Mills settlement, Chapter III.  While account of the growth and development of the family of Ennis Maulding is, at least in part, germane to the essay, yet another event of the year 1830 bears equal or exceeding weight in the history of the “Miller of Wayne County:”  The election of August 1830.

          Clay, Hamilton & Jefferson Counties Choose a Senator:  But several years would elapse before Senator Maulding would become, in fact, the “Miller of Wayne County.”  The siren of politics still beckoned.  On Aug 3, 1830, the district comprised of the above named three counties indicated its preference for Ennis Maulding as state senator.  Israel Jennings of Clay County provided the opposition:  That Jennings suffered defeat by a margin of almost two to one evidences the nature of the choice of the district.  Here, before the chapter survey, it may be noted that the essay exhibits a merging or confluence with respect to the chronology of events.

          Summary:   A long period of historical darkness supervenes the marriage of Maulding-Crissel and the territorial census of 1818, eg., from 1804 to statehood for Illinois.  The census of 1818 ad the census of 1820 indicates growth of the Maulding family:  Meanwhile Ennis Maulding was commissioned in the militia.  He was gathering experience in the milling business and in the laying out of roads.

          Six Months after Maulding’s promotion in the militia, his daughter, Elizabeth, and George Mayberry were married and apparently moved to Wayne County.  Although the 1830 census enumeration indicated that Maulding was between 10 and 50 years old, such data could not be reconciled with the previous census of 1820.  Maulding was probably about 53 years of age when he went to the General Assembly as state senator.

 From: Goshen Trails, April, 1971; p. 11
Reprinted by permission

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