This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.
Surnames: Caylor, Kaylor
Classification: Query
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/BMI.2ACIB/102
Message Board Post:
I am writing in search of anyone interested in a Jacob Caylor and a Kaylor family who were
listed in the 1860 and 1870
census as residents of the town of New Philadelphia, in Hadley Township, Pike County,
Illinois. Jacob Caylor was listed in the 1860 census as a 29-year-old man born in
Virginia, and living in the household of Franklin Woodward. Thomas and Maria Kaylor were
listed in the 1870 census. Thomas was a 30-year-old farmer, born in Ohio. Maria was 26
and born in Illinois.
I am working with a group of historians and archaeologists from the University of
Maryland, the Illinois State Museum, the University of Illinois, and the New Philadelphia
Association, to research the social history of this town and its past residents as part of
our national heritage. We have recently obtained funding from the National Science
Foundation as part of our efforts, and we will be engaged in a multi-year project of
historical studies, oral history interviews, and archaeological investigations.
If you are interested in this project, and recovering the national memory of this historic
town, please contact us. We seek your input, as a member of the community who may have an
interest in this effort, to talk with us about the types of questions you would like to
have addressed through such research, and your thoughts and preferences on potential ways
to honor the heritage of New Philadelphia.
The story of New Philadelphia is both compelling and unique. In 1836, Frank McWorter, an
African American who was born into slavery and later purchased his own freedom, acquired
42 acres of land in the sparsely populated area of Pike County, situated in the rolling
hills bounded by the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. He incorporated a town, subdivided
the property, and sold lots. He encouraged other families of African American and European
heritage to move to the town and create a racially integrated community in the decades
before and after the Civil War. New Philadelphia likely served as a stopping place for the
"Underground Railroad" of enslaved African Americans who were fleeing northward
from the oppression of southern plantations. The history of New Philadelphia serves as a
rare example of an integrated early farming community on the nation's Midwestern
frontier. The town's population reached its peak of about 170 people after the Civil
War, a size comparable to many!
Pike County communities today. However, by the end of the century corporate politics
resulted in the death knell for the settlement: regional transportation investors routed a
new railroad line to bypass the town. Many of New Philadelphia's residents eventually
moved away and, by the early twentieth century, only a few families remained.
You can learn more about the history of New Philadelphia, and details concerning upcoming
phases of our multi-year research efforts by following the related web page links you will
find at:
http://www.heritage.umd.edu
Thank you very much for your time and consideration,
Claire Martin