Editing Maeystown, Illinois (section)

==History==
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The history of the tract of land where what is now Maeystown is situated, began sometime after 1782, when a soldier of the American Revolution, one James McRoberts, staked a claim of {{convert|100|acre}} (Survey 704; Claim 316). He subsequently left the [[Illinois Territory]] for [[Tennessee]], where he married Mary Fletcher-Harris, and returned in 1797, adding another {{convert|100|acre|km2}} to his holdings. It was on this second tract that he built his home, from cedar logs, and here he raised his family. McRoberts fathered ten children, the eldest, [[Samuel McRoberts]], being the first native-born Illinoisan to serve in the [[United States Senate]].

Maeystown may be said to have begun its growth as a town in the year 1852, when Jacob Maeys built a [[sawmill]] on what had become known as McRoberts Meadow, which he purchased in 1848. For a year after its construction the mill remained idle, on account of there not being sufficient water to drive it. [[Steam engine]]s were then put in place, and the mill successfully operated. The first store was opened in 1858 by Jacob Maeys in partnership with Judge Abraham Poston. By this time some half a dozen houses had been erected in the place. A town had been surveyed and laid off in 1856 by Maeys, and called "Maeysville". A post office was established in 1860, which changed the name to Maeystown, with Jacob Maeys appointed as first [[postmaster]].<ref>''Combined History of Randolph, Monroe and Perry Counties, Illinois'', J. L. McDonough & Co., Philadelphia, 1883</ref>

The entire village, save for a small strip of land on the northeast side, is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] as the Maeystown Historic District.<ref>{{NRISref|2010a}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Wagner|first=Robert|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form: Maeystown Historic District|url=http://gis.hpa.state.il.us/pdfs/200227.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223180557/http://gis.hpa.state.il.us/pdfs/200227.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 23, 2014|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|access-date=February 13, 2014|date=January 22, 1978}}</ref>