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This excerpt from the 1872 Atlas Map of Pike County shows a portion of Hadley Township, including "Philadelphia" (shown here as a grid of town lots, with Frank McWorter's estate immediately to the north), surrounding properties, and the new town of Hadley Station at the railroad to the northwest of New Philadelphia. This Atlas also provided a map of Philadelphia's lots and streets, which depicts the town lot designations in a manner consistent with the original plat laid out by Frank McWorter in 1836. Compare this 1872 map with a similar map of the area from an 1860 Atlas. |
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Source: D. W. Ensign, Atlas Map of Pike County, Illinois, Davenport, Iowa: Andreas, Lyter & Co., 1872, p. 100. Illinois Historical Survey Collections, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. This Atlas included biographical information on prominent citizens, including the following who owned property in or near Philadelphia: SOLOMON McWORTER is the son of Frank McWorter, who was born a slave, in South Carolina, in the year 1777. Owing to the peculiar relationship existing between himself and his master, he was sold at the age of eighteen, to a planter in Kentucky, where he remained in slavery until he was forty years of age. After working for his master for a number of years, he hired his time, agreeing to pay a certain amount per annum. He then engaged in the manufacture of saltpetre, which he sold for good prices; and in that way, by hard work and strict economy for a number of years, he saved money enough, after paying his master for his hire, to purchase his freedom, which he did at the age of forty, at a cost of $800, thus becoming a free man. He worked on, and soon had money enough to buy his wife, which he did, paying the same amount for her. At that time, they had thirteen children. They had three others born to them in Kentucky, after their freedom. In 1829 they emigrated with their three free-born children, to Pike county, Ill., and settled on section 22, in Hadley township, where they built a house and made a farm, being the first settlers in that township. Mr. McWorter then went to work in good earnest at farming and raising stock, at which he was quite successful. As he could save up money sufficient, he would return to Kentucky and buy one or more of his children. This he continued until he had bought all of his living children, and two of his grandchildren, the whole, including himself and wife, costing over ten thousand dollars. In the same time he had bought up a large and valuable tract of land, and had made a comfortable home for himself and family. In 1837 Mr. McWorter got his name legalized by a special act of the legislature, and in the same year he and his wife were legally married, under the laws of the state. The ceremony was performed by the Hon. Alfred Grubb, in the town of Pittsfield. At the time of his death, which occurred in 1854, there remained four of his grandchildren in slavery, for the purchase of whom he made provision in his will, which was carried out to the letter, by his son Solomon. His wife's name was Lucy. She was born a slave, in Virginia, in the year 1771. At an early age she was taken to Kentucky, where she remained a slave until her husband bought her, after which, she did her full share to assist her husband in all his undertakings. She died in 1870, at the residence of one of her daughters, on the old place upon which she first settled, having attained the ripe old age of ninety-nine years. Solomon McWorter, the subject of this sketch, was born a slave, in the state of Kentucky, in the year 1815. He remained there, a slave, until the year 1835, when his father purchased him, and brought him to Illinois, where he has remained ever since. He was of good assistance to his father, in earning the money with which he purchased the family from slavery. He is now living on, and is the owner of, the old homestead, in Hadley township, where his father first settled. He is quite extensively engaged in farming and raising stock, and there are few men in Pike county who are succeeding better than he. In 1863, he married Miss Francis F. Coleman, of Springfield. She was born in the state of Missouri, in the year 1843, and emigrated to Illinois, with her parents, in 1856. They are now the parents of four children — one son and three daughters. Solomon's education is rather limited, but he is a man of good natural abilities, and very industrious, and is prospering well. He is now the owner of five hundred acres of first class land, well stocked with cattle, hogs, horses, and mules. He is a man of good moral habits, and is highly respected by his neighbors. JOHN WALKER was born a slave in Louisa county, Virginia, in the year 1798. He remained a slave, and was owned by several masters until the year 1834, when he bought himself from his master, Ostan Sanders, for the sum of three hundred dollars. He had saved up this amount, and something more, by devoting all his spare time to working a " patch " of ground which his master allowed him. After doing a hard day's work in the field, John would spend a part of the night at work on his " patch," cultivating his corn, tobacco, onions, beans, &c., which he was allowed to sell, and retain the proceeds. He would sometimes go hunting and trapping, and would catch rabbits, mink, coon, muskrat, &c., and sell the pelts. He would also trap and shoot quail, which he generally sold for a fair price. By working in that way for fifteen years, he finally succeededin saving up enough money to buy himself and a cheap team. He then rented a small piece of land, on which he raised corn, tobacco, beans &c. Owing to a peculiar law in Virginia he could remain there but one year after obtaining his freedom; but through the intercession of a friend he got the law so changed as to allow him to remain three years longer. He continued to work his rented ground in summer and trap the game in winter, and at the same time buy butter, eggs, poultry, &c., through the country, which he would take to market and sell at a profit. He worked along in that way until 1838, when the man who owned his wife and children was about to move to Missouri, so, in order to be near them, he too moved to Missouri. He had a good team, and money enough after he got there to purchase eighty acres of land, which he did, and went to farming, raising tobacco, corn, and hogs, at which he was quite successful. In 1850, he purchased two of his children -- Letty, a daughter, and Peter, a son -- for four hundred dollars each. In the year 1858 he purchased his wife, Lucy (who was then fifty years of age, and had been a slave all her life), and his son Oregon, who was eighteen years old, for whom he paid eleven hundred dollars. He remained in Missouri until March, 1861, at which time he was the owner of four hundred and sixty acres of land and a large amount of personal property, consisting of horses, mules, cattle, and hogs. After the purchase of his wife he became dissatisfied with Missouri, and in 1861 he sold his lands and a large portion of his other property, and moved with his family to Pike county, Illinois, where he purchased a good farm on section 22, in Hadley township. Here he has resided ever since. He now owns five hundred acres of good land, with very good buildings, where he and his family are living in comfort. At the time he moved to Illinois he left one daughter, one son, and two grandchildren (slaves) in Missouri, and in 1862 he returned and purchased the four at a cost of $1,600, and brought them home with him, where they are now living. The rest of his children were freed by the emancipation proclamation of President Lincoln. John is now the father of sixteen children, eleven of whom have deceased, and five are now living. He is the grandfather of twenty children and the great-grandfather of five. Mr. Walker is now one of the wealthy men of Pike county, being worth at least forty thousand dollars. He has made it all by his own untiring industry and economy. He has no education whatever, but he has a natural ability rarely found with the uneducated. He is a man of strict moral and religious habits, and has always lived quietly and peaceably with all men. He has no animosity towards any person, has always recognized the right to hold slaves where it was allowed by law, and says he never received any cruel treatment from any of his masters. He is very highly respected in the neighborhood in which he lives, and his word is considered as good as his note. Atlas Map of Pike County, Illinois, Davenport, Iowa, 1872, pp. 54, 58, transcribed by Glenda Subyak, edited by C. Fennell based on Atlas Map of Pike County, Illinois, Davenport, Iowa, 1872, pp. 54, 58, Unigraph, Inc. reprint, 1976. Maintained by |