Art,

Coles County, as it existed in 1847, was broken up to form other counties. Most of the counties in that part of Illinois was formed from Edwards County which took up about half of the state.

William Armstead and Malissa Dupee have a son Andrew Armstead born 1847 in New Albany, IL. The name is spelled on the census records as Olmstead on some and Omstead on others. It is probably the way they pronounced it.

Free blacks owned the barber shops and some of the restaurants in the area during the 1800s before the Civil War.

I bought a book while there. It has some information on the families.

Ed Adams