A man named Flannery settled in Williamson County in 1812 at a place that became known as Flannery Springs. Williamson County was the south half of Franklin County then. Little is known of Flannery. The exact location of the springs is not known. It is known that Flannery had a trading post.

The census of 1818 shows two Flannery families in the area, Elijah and Abraham. Abraham Flannery was in James Hill’s Store in Brownsville, in Jackson County, and bought a dipper for 37 ½ cents, on January 30, 1818. Again on May 1, he purchased a fur hat for five dollars. July 14 he bought a half pint of whiskey. All these items were bought on credit. The bill was paid February 2, 1819 with deer skins valued at $13.25.

(Ghost Towns of Southern Illinois, by Glenn J. Sneed, published 1977)