Parents:  George Alcorn and Matilda
Born: March 21, 1840 in Beaver, Clarion, Pennsylvania
Married: Almeda Droullard on Aug 3, 1865 in Potosi, Grant County, Wisconsin
Died: Dec 4, 1890 in Grant County, Wisconsin (Note: Wisconsin Pre 1907 Death Index has a date of Dec. 4, 1891)
Buried: Is reported to be buried in Advent Cemetery (I could find no record of that particular cemetery-- but I did find Waterloo Seventh Day Adventist Cemetery, Waterloo Township, Wisconsin ejj)
Cause of Death: Dropsy

Almeda Droullard

Parents:  John Droullard and Rebecca Wilson
Born:  June 21, 1837 in Dubuque, Iowa
Married:  Jesse Shipton May 24, 1854 in Dubuque, Iowa
Married:  Isaac Alcorn Aug 3, 1865 in Potosi, Grant County, Wisconsin
Died: Jan 18, 1903 in Boulder Colorado.
Buried:  Columbia (Pioneer) Cemetery, Boulder, Boulder County, Colorado
Cause of Death: Tuberculosis

1850 Census

Kiskiminetas, Armstrong, Pennsylvania

Alcorn, George, age 39, farmer born Penn
Alcorn, Matilda, age 39, born Penn
Alcorn, Margaret D., age 14, born Penn
Alcorn, John, age 12, born Penn
Alcorn, Isaac, age 10, born Penn
Alcorn, Nathan, age 8, born Penn
Alcorn, Elizabeth, age 7, born Penn
Alcorn, Sarah M, age 5, born Penn.
Alcorn, Matilda, age 2, born Penn
Alcorn, Mary E, age 6/12, born Penn

(Note by Elaine Johnson -- Based on this information I would think it highly likely that the John Alcorn in Company B with Isaac was his older brother, but I have nothing that proves that)

This query is on the Grant County Wisconsin US Genweb site.  It might also account for the reason that I cannot find them in the 1860 census

Almeda Droullard's Parents and Siblings

The information below was submitted by Mandy Nelson.  Much more information is available on this family.

JOHN DROULLARD was born 25 May 1788 in Paris, France, and died 09 May 1865 in Waterloo Township, Grant County, Wisconsin.  He married (1) REBECCAH DRAPER 16 March 1809 in Warren County, Ohio, USA.  She was born 10 March 1786 in Warren County, Ohio, USA, and died 1826 in Quincy, Adams County, Illinois, USA.  He married (2) REBECCA WILSON 02 February 1828 in Quincy, Adams County, Illinois, USA.  She was born 12 March 1800 in Pennsylvania, USA, and died 14 February 1879 in Waterloo Township, Grant County, Wisconsin .

Notes for JOHN DROULLARD (Compiled by Garry Bryant):

Drouillard is the correct spelling of the name in France. It means "one who lives by a pine tree grove or orchard." Two known families came to America, one in the mid-1600s to Quebec as a soldier (his descendants settle Detroit and Ohio). The other Drouillard came in the early 1800s.

John Droullard was born in France on 25 March 1788 and came to America in the early part of the nineteenth century. A family tradition that seems to have been heard in every family, and which has been passed down and may well have some fact to it, is that Droullard hid himself in a wine cask (another version called it a hogshead), and thus jumped ship. The reason for his escape was that he was a French Huguenot (Protestant) and was seeking religious freedom. But the Huguenot period was in the 1600s, not in the early 1800s.

It is believed that John Droullard jumped ship at New Orleans, and made his way up the Mississippi River to the Ohio River and up that river to the town of Cincinnati. Warren County borders Hamilton on the north-east, and borders north of Clermont County. Yet another theory is that John may be a descendant of a Droullard that came to Quebec, Canada about 1650 and his descendants later settled at Detroit, Michigan in the early 1700s. In the early 1800s Droullards did live in Ohio and Kentucky.

Where in France he came from is not actually known. However, it is believed that the family originated from around Vurdune. Stella Patten (a grand-daughter of Almeda Droullard Alcorn) once stated that she remembers going to France when a little girl around the end of the 1890s when several family members went to visit relatives in France. She said that they went to a cemetery near Vurdune. This event is questionable. The only town mentioned is on Almeda (Droullard) Alcorn's death certificate which list's her father being from Paris, France.

The earliest record of John Droullard is his first marriage to Rebecca Draper on 16 March 1809 in Warren County, Ohio.  Rebecca was born 3 October 1786. She bore ten children, four girls and six boys, but one of the boys is unknown and he only appears in the 1840 census. All of the children, except Isaac, were born in Ohio, some of them in Clermont County.

Both Warren and Clermont counties are part of the Military Reserve Lands for Revolutionary soldiers, but many of the settlers were not veterans. In Clermont County, two prominent families (of the author) were the Sargents and the Kennedys. Both families were involved with the Underground Railroad for run away slaves and had wanted posters posted in Kentucky.  

The next record of John Droullard that can be found is in Union township, Clermont County, Ohio. Droullard is listed on page 47a of the 1820 Federal census as John Droultard. The census gives shallow information. What is learned from it is that by 1820 there were three sons and four daughters born, along with approximate ages, and that Droullard was in agriculture. 

MOVE WEST 

Droullard's next appearance emerges on the western frontier of Illinois, in a town that would later be called Quincy in Adams County. A local historian wrote of Droullard's settlement of Quincy saying that Droullard was a real accession to the neighborhood, and that: 

"In the fall of this year (1824) came John Droulard, a Frenchman and a shoemaker by trade, who had served in the army. He became the owner of the northeast quarter of Section 2, Township 2 south, Range 9 west the 160 acres now in the center of the city lying immediately east of the fractional quarter on which Keyes had settled; bounded by Broadway and Twelfth Street on the north and east, on the west by the alley running from Maine to Hampshire between Sixth and Seventh streets, and on the south by a line nearly half way between Kentucky and York streets. This was a choice piece of property which, in a few years, Droulard frittered away.  He erected a cabin near the northeast corner of what is now Jersey and Eighth streets, a little west of where the gas works are situated. These three houses (John) Wood's, (Willard) Keyes' and (John) Droulard's were the only buildings in the place in 1824."

Droullard had the first legal land ownership in Quincy. Although he was the third settler to the area (John Woods and Willard Keyes were ahead of Droullard), they were not legal land owners, but were squatters.

"This settlement of Keyes was a “squat”; the term in those days applied to a location or residence on Government land not yet subject to entry, and was in opposition to laws which forbid such settlement and occupation," not to mention that it was a violation of the Indian treaties with the Sauk & Fox tribes, which lead to the Black Hawk War of the early 1830s.

Willard Keyes' home was a rough, little cramped cabin which served as the first courthouse, church, and free hotel to transients as well as a meeting house for many other early organizations.11 Here at Keyes' cabin the first election was held and an antiquated tea-pot was used for a ballot box. 

During this time there were less than 100 settlers in the country within a thirty mile range and in the 1825 state census the combined population for Adams and Hancock counties was only 192. 

When the county seat was established at Quincy the entire population turned out consisting of Williard Keyes, Jeremiah Rose, and John Droullard; John Wood was away on business. It is interesting to note that of the four early settlers to Quincy, all would be prominent leaders in the community except for Droullard.  In fact, John Woods later became the governor of Illinois. 

Droullard is listed as a jurier on the first Grand Jury that was held in Adams county in August of 1825. The first Circuit Court was held in a log cabin that was sixteen feet square, with a portico that held the jury. After being charged by the court, the Grand Jury retired to the shade of a large oak tree that was nearby where they discussed the cases of infractions that had been presented. Indictments were given to two citizens for quarrelling on election day. One case that was heard by the Grand Jury involved John Wood vs. Daniel Lisle for slander. Lisle charged Wood with drowning a horse thief in Bear Creek. But there was no evidence to prove this charge. 

Sometime between 1826 and 1828, Droullard's wife, Rebecca, appears to have died. It is highly possible that she may have died during the birth of the last child Isaac, but again this is only speculative.

The following was written by Ethel Almeda Shipton Kolkow:

John Droullard walked with a cane.  Evidently used it on the children also.  Once Margaret Droullard had the smaller children with her gathering wild berries.  There was a thumping noise.  Margaret located a panther watching them.  She told the other children to come home with her.  "Father is after us!"  The fact of the big cat’s tail was accounted fathers cane.  She feared they would panic, and scatter, then the cat would pick one for attack

 Children of John Droullard and Rebeccah Draper: 

1. Mary Ann Droullard, b. 20 December 1809, Warren County, Ohio, USA; d. 07 January 1858, Waterloo Township, Grant County, Wisconsin. USA.
    

2. Simon Droullard,  b. 03 April 1811, Warren County, Ohio, USA.
    

3. Barsheba Droullard, b. 24 February 1813, Ohio, USA; d. 24 November 1897,  Nora Springs, Floyd County, Iowa
    

4. Thomas Droullard, b. 19 August 1814, Warren County, Ohio, USA.
    

5. Rebeccah Droullard, b. 13 August 1816, Ohio, USA; d. 27 February 1900, Guthrie, Logan County, Oklahoma, USA.
    

6. John H. Droullard, b. 27 April 1819, Claremont, Warren County, Ohio, USA; d. 30 December 1875, Grant County, Wisconsin, USA.
    

7. Peter Coalman Droullard, b. 27 April 1819, Claremont, Warren County, Ohio, USA; d. 20 March 1897, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, USA.
    

8. Lettetia Droullard, b. 15 September 1821, Claremont, Warren County, Ohio, USA; m. Charles Taylor; b. Bet. 1800 - 1840.
    

9. Isaac Droullard, b. 17 February 1826, Claremont, Warren County, Ohio, USA.

Children of John Droullard and Rebecca Wilson. 

Notes for REBECCA WILSON: After she was widowed Rebecca ended up living with her daughter Almeda.

1. James P. Droullard, b. 23 March 1829, Quincy, Adams County, Illinois, m. Florence Kirkman.
    

2. Margaret Droullard, b. 30 December 1831, Dubuque, Dubuque County, Iowa, USA; m. Martin Bruner, 29 December 1849, Dubuque, Dubuque County, Iowa, USA.
    

3. Alma Droullard, b. 14 August 1835, Dubuque, Dubuque County, Iowa, USA; d. 29 December 1903, Berrien Springs, Berrien County, Michigan, USA.
    

4. Almeda Droullard, b. 21 June 1837, Dubuque, Dubuque County, Iowa, d. 19 January 1903, Boulder, Boulder County, Colorado
    

5. Eliza Droullard, b. 1836, Iowa Territory, USA.
    

6. Almon Droullard, b. 06 January 1839, Dubuque, Dubuque County, Iowa.  Buried: Mountain Green Cemetery, Boulder, Colorado, USA
    

7. Alrazi Droullard, b. 16 November 1840, Dubuque, Dubuque County, Iowa, USA; d. 22 October 1913, Hurricane, Grant County, Wisconsin, USA.
    

8. William Alvia Droullard, b. 19 September 1844, Dubuque, Dubuque County, Iowa; d. 12 May 1872, Waterloo Township, Grant County, Wisconsin: m. Lota Lovina Pafford, Grant County, Wisconsin.