William Faux, was, by his own account "an English farmer," lived at Sutton near London, where he left behind an aged father, his wife, and their only child when he embarked on a journey to the United States; there he planned to ascertain the prospects in America for British emigrants, including at "Mr. Birkbeck's settlement in the Illinois" according to the title page of his book, Memorable Days in America. Landing at Boston, he approached Illinois by a circuitous route via South Carolina, then back to Washington and Philadelphia, and overland through Kentucky. Wherever he went he found citizens happy to bad-mouth the English Settlement in Illinois. However, Faux was an equal-opportunity slanderer, with the result that New Englander Edward Everett risked apoplexy when he reviewed Faux's book.
Today, few Americans would consider Faux's observations so offensive, though many would find him naïve. He seems to have believed the tall tales some Americans like to spring on foreigners, such as one about a pair of Yankee con men, one of whom would paint his body black and let his confederate sell him into slavery, only to wash off the next day and collect his half of the money. But then, Faux was convinced that "knavery damns the North, and slavery damns the South." Clearly he loved gossip, and as a result only his account explains why, with limited resources, George Flower chose to found the town of Albion, while Birkbeck founded that of Wanborough only a few miles away in the English Settlement.
According to Faux, Birkbeck, a widower, hoped to marry the beautiful Eliza Julia Andrews, who had joined the party of emigrants as a companion to his daughters. On the trip, she and George Flower fell in love and were married in Indiana before they even reached the settlement. As a result, Flower and Birkbeck drew a line between their properties and, as Flower sadly admitted in old age, "We were silent ever after." Perhaps it was because Faux had revealed a truth that Flower also preferred to remain silent about that Faux's book is the only one by an early visitor to the settlement never mentioned in Flower's history.
After the breakup, Flower's Albion flourished and today is the seat of Edwards County; Birkbeck's Wanborough faded away and today is only the site of a historical marker. As for Faux, after his one book was published he was never heard from again.
&mdashCharles Boewe
Source: [Everett, Edward.] "Faux's Memorable Days in America." The North American Review 19 (July 1824): 92-125; Flower, George. History of the English Settlement in Edwards County, Illinois. Chicago: Chicago Historical Society, 1882; . Boewe, Charles. Prairie Albion, An English Settlement in Pioneer Illinois. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1999.