1874 Hillsboro Area Landholding Maps

The map images contained here are from the "Illustrated Atlas Map of Montgomery County, Ill."  Published in 1874 by Brink, McCormick & Co. of Illinois.

Notes:

On the detailed maps of Butler Grove Township and Hillsboro Township I have highlighted in yellow those landholdings owned by known Seward, Slayback, and Coudy family members.   (A highlighting mistake I made has been marked out with an "X".)   The following is a summary of land ownership and information on how the owner is related.  (Note that the detail maps for townships adjacent to Butler Grove and Hillsboro Township were not examined so it is possible that they also  show land owned by family members):

Israel Seward (120 acres)
Israel Seward (  55 acres)
Israel Seward (  78 acres)
Israel Seward (  20 acres)
Israel Seward (  40 acres)
Israel Seward (  30 acres)
George Seward – son of Israel (95 acres)
George Seward – son of Israel (41.5 acres)
William Seward – son of Israel (70 acres)
Clarence Seward – son of Israel (80 acres)
George Burnap – husband of Israel’s sister Maria (80 acres)
Joseph Burnap – nephew of Israel, son of George (80 acres)
Joseph Burnap – nephew of Israel, son of George (80 acres)
Joseph Burnap – nephew of Israel, son of George (40 acres)
Crosier Slayback – nephew of Israel’s wife Margaret (80 acres)
Justus H. Ware – grandnephew of Israel’s wife Margaret (Slayback) Seward (280 acres)
James Coudy – Possibly a descendent of Charles B. Coudy (80 acres)
Alex. Coudy – Possibly a descendent of Charles B. Coudy (90 acres)

Any land originally owned by Israel’s father, Col. John Seward, in the early days of the Butler area likely was passed on to Israel and/or his sister Maria Burnap when the Col. died in 1847.

Israel Seward passed away in 1869, five years prior to when these maps were made so it can probably be assumed that land shown as owned by him in 1874 was in fact owned by his widow Margaret (Slayback) Seward when the maps were published.

It is likely that the land owned by Israel’s sons George, William, and Clarence was given to them by Israel when they came of age.  Many of Israel's other children left the area and thus did not become land owners.  In about 1865 George and William Seward had each donated some of their land to create the newly formalized Village of Butler.

George Burnap was the husband of Israel’s sister, Maria (Seward) Burnap.  Joseph Burnap was George and Maria's son.  Land owned by Joseph Burnap is close to that of Israel Seward suggesting that it could have been passed to Israel’s sister and her husband when Col. John Seward passed away.

Crosier Slayback was a son of Israel’s wife Margaret Slayback-Seward’s brother David Slayback.

Justus H. Ware was the son of Margaret Slayback-Seward’s niece, Sarah “Sally” Slayback-Ware (wife of Benjamin Ware, Jr.).  There are numerous Ware property’s shown in the vicinity of “Ware’s Grove” about 2 miles northeast of Butler.

How James Coudy and Alex(ander) Coudy fit in is not clear but it is possible that they may have been the sons of Charles B. Coudy, a nephew of Mathew Coudy who married Mary Seward.