Flow Gently Sweet Afton

The music for this song was composed by Jonathon Edwards Spilman in 1836. He entered the ministry in 1858 and became pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in 1881. This church had been organized by his brother Benjamin F. Spilman on November 25, 1827, and was the first church in Carmi.This mill, started in 1833 by Andrew Smith, was continued by his descendants, the Morrison family, until 1964. The flint mill stones, imported from France, had been grinding corn since 1859. The town, named Liberty by Scotch pioneers who settled here around 1816, was later renamed Burnt Prairie. From the historical marker erected by the White County Historical Society and The Illinois State Historical Society.