3. AGNES, born 13 Jun 1800 in Kirkcudbright, Scotland, died 30 May 1866; came to America with her parents and
settled in Corrieville, IL; married 25 Nov 1824 to the Rev. John Scripps who was born 26 Aug 1786 in England,
between Fleet Street and the Thames, son of William Scripps and Grace Locke (who, according to family
tradition, was related to the philosopher John Locke). John was the twelfth of the nineteen children his mother
bore, and at his birth only two of the previous children had survived. The family emmigrated to America in 1791.
The Methodist were at the center of a great religious excitement in 1808, and several members of the Scripps
family joined the church including John. He decided to become a minister following the deaths of his mother and
sister Ann in the 1811 smallpox epedemic and became the first Methodist circuit rider who traveled extensively
in Illinois. He was considered an intelligent and good man and a wonderful preacher who was written up in many
church papers and books, the first man to preach in St Louis in 1816, he was secretary of the Methodist
Episcopal conference for 27 years when it included Missouri, Illinois and Indiana; he and the famous traveling
minister, Peter Cartwright, were good friends and Peter stayed in the Scripps' home whenever he came to their
area. John reputedly knew every white family in the territory and no doubt met the Corrie families during this
time. They, in turn, had attended Methodist camp meetings and John Corrie, his wife Mary Agnes, their son
John, then seventeen, three daughters and two cousins, were all converted to that faith and united with the
church. So it was not surprising, when John Scripps finally decided to find a wife and settle down at the age of
39 that he thought of the Corries, it is believed they met in Corrieville, Lawrence Co., IL. After a very
brief courtship, Agnes and John were married and moved to Cape Girardeau, MO where John had started a
mercantile and tanning business back in 1809 (his brother ran the business when John was out preaching). John
objected to slavery so strongly he decided in 1831 to leave Missouri and chose the new community of Rushville,
IL for their home. He took Agnes and their three children back to her mother to stay for three years until he
could build them a
house. Scripps had many talents; in 1831 he started a new merchantile stores business in
partnership with a Mr. McAllister, Scripps operated in Rushville and McAllister in New Orleans. In a letter
from Eliza Scripps (ref.
1.1.5.4.3.2.7.) to Wallace Beals (ref.
1.1.5.4.5.6.3.) she wrote, "I read something of
Grandfather Scripps and the account of the unfortunate outcome of his storekeeping. Mr. McAllister of St Louis
went to Philadelphia to buy goods; they borrowed $3,000 from the bank and went $7,000 in debt on the stock of
goods then lost them all in a canal accident while shipping them back to Rushville with no insurance. That was
certainly hard luck. They had many accounts which they could not collect because a number of the early settlers
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