Azel W. Dorsey IL518

TOMBSTONE:

AZEL W. DORSEY
DIED SEP. 13, 1858
MARKER:
In Honor of Service in the War of 1812.
Azel Waters Dorsey

Stone:
In Memory of Azel Dorsey school teacher of Abraham Lincoln, 1826. Stone from Lincoln's Tomb, 1932.

[Oral tradition has it Dorsey arrived by stage. Stopped at the small red building just SE of town (Huntsville). This building was recently (after 2000) torn down by the men in town, and the lumber was used for the pavilion in the town square. Dorsey, bought a small place, and used a store front off the square to cut hair. The barber's chair he used is still kept in the small general store in town (shown above). Dorsey taught school here, also, and was well accepted. Local Boy Scouts, who camp on the King farm, built the stone and mortar monument.]

The following article is taken in part from the Aug. 7, 1952 issue of The Augusta Eagle.
Teacher of Lincoln is Buried in Schuyler County -- "Tucked away in a corner of a quiet meadow in the northwest corner of Schuyler County is the grave of an almost unknown man who may have had a great influence on the life of Abraham Lincoln.
His name which will ring familiar in only a few ears - is Azel Dorsey.
Mr. Dorsey's fame arises in that he is one of few men who guided young Lincoln during the few months of the future president's skimpy formal education."
"Just what influence, if any, Mr. Dorsey had on the future of Lincoln is not known and it is doubtful if it will ever be known. It is not even known for how long a time Dorsey taught Lincoln.
About all that is certain is this: Dorsey was one of three itinerant teachers who taught Lincoln while he lived in Spencer County, Ind., in his boyhood." - "Dorsey, it is believed was the last teacher Lincoln had.
"What little information is available on Dorsey was provided by the late J. B. Oakleaf who in 1930 wrote an article on him in the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society.
Dorsey, Mr. Oakleaf reported, had been a soldier in the War of 1812 before settling in Indiana. He later moved to the Military Tract in Schuyler County. (The Military Tract was land given to veterans of the Revolutionary War and War of 1812 as bonuses.)
In 1828, Dorsey became a patron of the Rushville Post Office and also taught school in Schuyler County. Records in the recorder's office in Rushville show Dorsey owned property in both Camden and Huntsville townships.
Mr. Oakleaf reports that when he found the grave on the Theodore King farm, about half mile south of the village of Huntsville, the grave had not been kept and the tombstone had been knocked over. Only inscription on the stone was: Azel W. Dorsey, Died Sept. 13, 1858. Aged 73 yrs., 10 mos., 8 days.
Apparently interest in Dorsey grew for in 1932, the late Logan Settles of Rushville, who claimed he was related to Lincoln, obtained a stone from Lincoln's tomb in Springfield and had it erected over the grave. The original stone was embedded in the newer one.
Inscription on the new stone is "Erected by Logan Settles in memory of Azel Dorsey, school teacher of Abram Lincoln 1826, Stone from Lincoln's Tomb. 1932."
An iron picket fence has been erected around the stone."

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Wabash River in 1779 IN543
WABASH RIVER IN 1779

The French founded the settlement of Vincennes along the Wabash River in 1732 to protect this important trade route from the English and to strengthen relations with the Indians in this area. This region subsequently was controlled by the British following their victory in the French and Indian War three decades later. The Wabash River also was strategically important in the contest between the British and Americans for control of the West during the Revolutionary War and in the War of 1812.

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New Providence Church 1E46
This Presbyterian church was founded in 1786 by Rev. Archibald Scott, of Virginia. In 1792, Rev. Gideon Blackburn built a log church here; the stones in the present wall are from a church which replaced it in 1829; the brick church replaced it in 1858. In its cemetery, which was closed to burials in 1905, are 13 known veterans of the Revolution and War of 1812.

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William Smothers TX5846
WILLIAM SMOTHERS
(1760 - 1837)

A Veteran of the Texas Revolution. A native of Virginia, William Smothers was orphaned at 12 when Indians killed his father, and his mother died of shock. In the American Revolution, he fought at King's Mountain, Guilford Courthouse, Camden, and Eutaw Springs. He moved to Kentucky in 1781, built two forts near present Hartford, originally called "Smothers Station," and in 1798 founded an Ohio river port that later became Owensboro. He was a leader in civil affairs in early Kentucky, was a militia captain, and commanded troops in the War of 1812. Smothers Park in Owensboro is named in his honor. Smothers scouted in Texas before 1820, returned in 1821 with the exploring party of Stephen F. Austin, and helped build Fort Bend for the safety of the "Old 300" settlers. In 1824 Mexico gave him a land grant; in 1826, he and two sons helped settle DeWitt's Colony, receiving land grants in the vicinity of this marker. Fearless and a skillful guide, he often hunted with his friend Jim Bowie. Reputedly he tomahawked bears in hand combat. Married twice, he was ancestor of many leading Texans. He died in 1837, after seeing a son and three grandsons help to win the Texas War for Independence.

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St. John's Church VA1784
Hampton, Virginia The Oldest Anglican Parish in continuous existence in America. Established in 1610, this is the fourth church built in the parish. It was erected in 1728 in the shape of a Latin Cross. Its walls are two feet thick. The bricks are laid in Flemish Bond. Its communion silver bears the hallmark 1618 and has been termed "the most precious relic in the Anglican Church in America." These venerable walls have suffered during the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and the war between the states.

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Nicholas Gibbs Homestead 1E107
Nicholas Gibbs, prominent Knox County pioneer, homesteaded 450 acres here in 1792 and built this hewed log house approximately one year later. It remained in the Gibbs family until 1971. The Nicholas Gibbs Historical Society purchased the house in 1986.It is the boyhood home of three War of 1812 Soldiers, one of whom, Capt. Nicholas Gibbs, Jr., gave his life at Horseshoe Bend.

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Cumberland Furnace Iron Plantation 3E16
One mile west, James Robertson purchased land in 1793 to build the first iron works west of the Cumberlands. In 1804, Montgomery Bell bought it and during the War of 1812 supplied Gen. Jackson's army with cannon shot. From 1825 to 1863, A.W. Vanleer was the owner. The furnace was operated by the Warner Iron Company from 1899 until 1938. In 1942, the last iron was made at the furnace when it was briefly reopened by Rogers Caldwell, President of the Cumberland Iron Company. In September 1988, the Cumberland Furnace Historic Village was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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Moore County 2G39
Moore County was created by an Act of the Tennessee Legislature December 1871, and was named to honor General William Moore. Born in Kentucky in 1786, he settled on Mulberry Creek circa 1806. Captain in the War of 1812 and the Creek Indian Wars, and Militia Major, Moore served four terms in the State Legislature and was named State Adjutant General in 1840. He died on 10 March 1871, and was buried in Moore Cemetery, in Lincoln County.

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Camp Ross 2A5
To the east, at the mouth of Chattanooga Creek, was this supply base for Tennessee troops during the Creek War of 1812-13. The river here forms Moccasin Bend in its efforts to break through the mountains.

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Robert Emmett Bledsoe Baylor TX6004
ROBERT EMMETT BLEDSOE BAYLOR
(1793-1873)

R.E.B. Baylor, for whom Baylor University is named, was a prominent leader in diverse arenas of public service: military, judicial, political, educational, fraternal and religious. A Kentucky native, he served in the War of 1812 and the Creek Indian War, attaining the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Following successes in law and politics in Kentucky and Alabama, he moved to Texas in 1839 and taught school at La Grange, later settling at Gay Hill (7 mi.W), where he built his home, Holly Oak. Baylor was judge of the Third Judicial District and associate justice of the Republic of Texas Supreme Court, 1841-45. He continued as district judge during statehood, retiring in 1863. A Mason, he was Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Texas. It was perhaps as a Baptist leader that Baylor received his greatest recognition. Converted to Christianity in 1839, he helped found the Texas Baptist Education Society in 1841. With W.M. Tryon and J.G. Thomas, he worked to start a Baptist university. Chartered in 1845 as Baylor University, it opened at Independence the following year and included a female department later chartered separately as Baylor Female College. Baylor served as a trustee for both institutions and taught law classes, accepting no pay for teaching. Judge R.E.B. Baylor died on Dec. 30, 1873, with burial here on the Windmill Hill campus. The university moved to Waco in 1886, and in 1917, reburial of his remains occurred at Baylor Female College (now Mary Hardin-Baylor University) in Belton. This marker commemorates the judge's productive years here, from which his influence spread worldwide and is still in evidence today.

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