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Jefferson County Illinois |
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Jefferson County Illinois |
The Prairie Historian September 1973 Volume 2 Number 3 Submitted By: Abby Newell 5newells@teltech.net |
Issued by The Prairie Historians, an organization dedicated to the preservation of things of historic interest. Centered in, but not limited to the southwest four townships of Jefferson County, Illinois. Founded 1971 membership fee per calender year individual $3.00 family $5.00 OFFICERS President- Jerry Elliston Vice-President Ileta Philp Secretary-Treasurer- Estelle Holloway Librarian- Dorothy Knight Directors- Willard Fairchild, Betty Borowiak, Louis Norris Editor- Jerry Elliston, co-editors- Margie Elliston, Beatrice Tuttle, Inez Davis, Hattie Fairchild, Audrey Merriman. ADDRESS The Prairie Historians P. O. Box 301 Waltonville, Illinois 52694 Although every effort will be made to screen the material presented on the pages of The Prairie Historian, neither the editor nor The Prairie Historians take responsibility for the accuracy of material submitted by contributors. Comments and criticism are welcome. Manuscripts are eagerly solicited. NOTICE!!!! NOTICE!!!! NOTICE!!!! THE SEPTEMBER MEETING WILL BE HELD IN THE OLD BAPTIST CHURCH BUILDING. NOW THE HOME OF THE PRAIRIE HISTORIANS (one block south of Andy Stevens Store) IN WALTONVILLE, TUESDAY EVENING SEPTEMBER 25, 1973 AT 7:30 PM The program will be presented by Margie Elliston. "history set to music". Future issues of The Prairie Historian will follow a circular pattern in featuring the particular areas of Prairie Historian Land. The next issue will feature Elk Prairie, the March 1974 issue will feature Bald Hill, the June issue Knob Prairie and so on. There is no cover picture in this issue as the editor neglected to request it until too late. There may be a limitation on the number of pages in future bulletins because of the paper shortage. The habit of featuring certain areas in each issue does not exclude the material from all other areas. Contents page 1 - contents 2 - Wolf Prairie 3 - The accomodating Railroads of Yesteryear 4 - The Last of the Indians. 6 - An Unusual Death Marks a Point in Time 8 - The Old Primitive Baptist - Church of Christ Building 9 - Scheller as Seen at the Turn of the Century J. L. Denton 11- The Scheller School 1892 12- The Pioneer Life of Soloman Ford as Told in HIs Own Way. REMEMBER !!! SEPTEMBER MEETING IN NEW HOME, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1973. WOLF PRAIRIE Wolf Prairie starts in sections 14 and 15 in McClellan Township south of McClellan School and extends northward, widening at the north end and reaching into Shiloh Township to the L & N Railroad. Taking in most of the southwest part of Mt. Vernon and extending west ward to within a quarter mile of the Big Muddy River. It covers an area of about 7,000 acres. In the vicinity of Mt. Vernon it was called Town Prairie and near Big Muddy river on the west it was sometimes called Bullock's Prairie. Few remnants can be seen of this huge prairie today. Some tall prairie grasses may be seen in September growing just north of the Drive In Theater on route 148, if they have not been mowed down. These are Big Blue Stem or Turkey Foot and Indian Grass. A careful search may disclose a few other prairie plants growing in fence rows where the original sod has not been completely destroyed. Wolf Prairie was settled very early. Perrin says Isaac and William Hicks settled in the northeast part of it in the fall of 1817. Isaac had a son, Thomas, soon after they moved there. He is said to be the first white child born in Jefferson County. A man named James Dickerson settled in section 12 of McClellan Township, near the southern end of Wolf Prairie in 1821 and started a coopers shop, (barrell maker). His death came about in a very peculiar manner. According to Perrin's History he was at some kind of a public gathering at the home of a man named Harlow. He was eating a piece of pie and when something amusing happened he threw back his head to laugh. The pie went down his wind pipe and choked him to death. William and Jonathan Wells settled in Wolf Prairie in 1823 says Perrin. Jonathan was a blacksmith and he also had the first grist mill in McClellan Township. It was a little horse mill with a capacity of about 2 or 3 bushels per day. The old trail to the salt works at Brownsville, near the present city of Murphysboro, which later came to be called The Brownsville Road, traversed Wolf Prairie and no doubt a great many people built their cabins along that well traveled early thoroughfare. Some old historians say Wolf Prairie got its name from the great number of wolves found there. The late Paul Wells, a descendent of one of the early pioneers told the following story about how Wolf Prairie got its name and also about the beginning of The Wolf Prairie Cemetery. Here as it was reported in The Continental History of Jefferson County is that story. "This is the story of how Wolf Prairie Cemetery, located in McClellan Township, got started and also how it got its name. The story was related by the older people which included my father, W. P. Wells, who was born in 1860, and his brothers and sisters: The oldest sister Dicey E., was born in 1845. The earliest of the Wells family in Jefferson County was named William Wells, and he handed down the story through the generations. I think he came here about 1839, but have found nothing to prove or disprove this. Here is the story:" " A convoy of covered wagons was on its way to a place to settle in Elk Prairie Township, Jefferson County, Illinois. While en route to their new home, night caught them where Wolf Prairie Cemetery is now located; it was woods then. While they were camped there, a sick child became worse and died. The problem for them was what were they going to do with the child's body? They had to move on, and they could not take it with them. While they were still pondering the issue, two of the women were sitting on the ground talking about it, noticed a small bird acting very queer. It would flutter close to them, then it would flutter away, then back again. It kept repeating these strange actions until the women decided to follow and see if it were trying to tell them something. They started after the little bird and it led them down "what looked like a dim path" a short distance; and there they found two little graves with crosses on them. If anybody ever found out who was buried in these little graves I haven't heard of it. They buried this child by these little graves, and that is how Wolf Prairie Cemetery got started. I have heard my father W. P. Wells, and my aunt Dicey E, Aunt Sis Wells Pasley, tell this story many times. It is my understanding that this happended about 120 years ago, though I have found nothing recorded as to date. Some years after this people began to settle the country area around the cemetery. Now some of the surrounding country was treeless, and prairie land. Late one evening a man was attacked by a gang of wolves, of which there were many at that time; and the only way he could get away from them was to find and climb a tree, which he did after considerable running. He stayed up the tree all night, and the wolves stayed there gnawing at the trunk of the tree; by morning they had the tree almost gnawed down. However, before they got the job done, a passerby scared the wolves away, letting the man come down. From that time to the present, that part of the country has been called Wolf Prairie, and Wolf Prairie Cemetery took its name from the name of the prairie." THE ACCOMODIATIN RAILROADS OF YESTERYEAR When Joseph Franklin Ford, a Civil War Veteran, and a progenator of several descendents in Wolf and Long Prairies, died, during the winter of 1912 or 1913, it was a very sickly and rainy time. The roads were knee deep in mud and all but impassable. He was to be buried in Wolf Prairie Cemetery and the W. C. and W. R. R. crossing was but a short distance down the road. Albert Roberts, Ralph and Monroe and Hobart Masters and Hall Phelps were to dig the grave the morning before the funeral. Uncle Tom Ford, Joseph Franklin's brother, arranged for the passenger train to stop at the crossing west of the cemetery. The casket was loaded into the baggage car in Mt. Vernon, as Uncle Frank had died while staying with his daughter Sarah and her husband Jim Bullock, on south 12th street. When the train stopped at the crossing the grave diggers walked down the muddy road and carried Uncle Frank's body to the Wolf Prairie Church House, where it remained until time for the funeral that afternoon. THE LAST OF THE INDIANS The last Indians of record in Jefferson County were camped in Wolf Prairie. They were Delewares who had ceded their lands along the Wabash, Ohio, and White rivers in Indiana and the Saline River in Southern Illinois to The United States. These lands included the famous salt springs on the Saline River west of Shawneetown. The Delewares were the last aboriginees to make salt there, and even then salt from the southern Illinois salt mines was being bartered and traded by them as far away as Louisiana and the eastern mountains. In 1803 the Moravian Missionaries had taught the Illinois and Indiana Delewares how to farm and they had sold the salt springs to the The United States in order to get money with which to buy farm emplements and seed. The Delewares were the only group of Indians who could produce a chronicle or record of their history for study by early students of American Indians. An ancient history of the movements and important events that had happended to the Deleware people for several centuries had been carved into long sticks by pictures and symbols. At the time they left Illinois young men were still being trained by the wise old chroniclers of the Deleware Nation to read and interpret the markings on the red sticks, or "alam Olum" as they called these long wooden records. William Penn made a treaty with the Delewares who were living on the west bank of the Deleware River near the present side of Philadelphia in 1656. During the intervening years pressure of white settlement had forced them westward until many of them were living in western Indiana and southeastern Illinois. At the beginning of the American Revolution Delewares were living near the mouth of the Wabash and making salt along the Saline River in Illinois. They were friendly toward the Ameri- cans, and in 1872 the Saline river band of Delewares were reported as being extremely helpful to the Americans and many of them were actually serving in the Colonial Army. After the Revolution, white settlement forced them westward until they finally sold all their lands and became transients in Illinois. The Spanish granted them a parcel of land on the Missouri and Kansas rivers west of where Levenworth now stands, and while enroute to those lands in 1819-1820 three bands of them camped in Jefferson County. They stayed here for almost two years. One group was camped on Horse Creek under a chief named Captain Whitefeather, another was camped on Harper Creek southwest of the new, brick Shiloh Church on the Richview Road, under a chief named George Owl. A third group of about 500 was camped in Bullock's Meadow, in the north end of Wolf Prairie about half a mile or so west of the 460 - I-57 interchange. The name of their chief is not recorded, but they were a part of the group under Chief's William Anderson, Lapahillie, and Nathcoming, who ceded title to all their western reservation within two years. Although we do not know the name of their chief, we do know he had some very pretty daughters and was extremely hospitable. William Henry Perrin's History of Jefferson County has this to say about those Indians. "They sent loads of pelts to Shawneetown and Kaskaskis bringing back many things the settlers could not have procured elsewhere. They also sold hunting shirts, breeches, and mocca- sins (of buck-skin) of their own making, to the whites. ---- The Chief, it is said, had some pretty daughters, and when at his urgent request, Isaac Casey's daughter paid them a visit, the old chief seemed very much delighted and was as polite toward them as a French Dancing Master. While these Indians were camped in the county they remained on the most friendly terms with the settlers, and were polite and extremely hospitable. If any of the whites visited them at mealtime, they were invited to eat, and if they refused the Indians were offended." They hunted and trapped in the surrounding area. Dug roots, picked berries, fished, and made maple sugar. The making of maple sugar, in late winter, was a time of delight for the children according to a report Journal of The Bureau of American Ethnology in 1872. Everybody worked at the gathering of the sap and boiling it down. When it was nearly done the old men would whittle little wooden molds in the shape of moons, stars, birds and animals, into which they poured some of the thick syrup to harden. These were given to the children as candy. There are no records of gardening or farming by the Delewares, while they were here, but they doubtless raised some garden produce at least. In 1820 they packed up and headed west, following the Old Kaskaskia Trail, later called the Pinckneyville Road. A huge caravan of people with horses piled high with their meager possessions. What happended to the Wolf Prairie Delawares after they left here is typical of the treatment Indians received everywhere in those days. While waiting to be ferried across the Mississippi river at Kaskaskia, white renegades stole some of their horses. They also attacked their woman while they were out gathering wood. Dragged them into the bushes and raped them. The Chief complained to the Indian Agent in St. Louis, (Captain William Clark, who had gone with Merriweather Lewis to the Pacific in 1805) but without the cooperation of local authorities he could do nothing, so their wrongs were never righted. When they got to their new lands they were dismayed by the seemlingly endless-treeless- plain. They complained of the lack of sugar trees and many other plants they had been used to in their old home in the east and here in Wolf Prairie. But worse, the gentle Delewares, who had been civilized for several generations, were shocked to discover that they were surrounded by wild Indians. The supeebly mounted and well armed savages of the plains swooped down upon them out of nowhere in a howling mob, trampled their crops, destroyed their villages, and kidnapped their women and children. They ambushed the hunting parties, murdered the men and stole the horses. It was not safe for anyone to work in the fields. The helpless Delewares appealed to the United States for help or for arms but got neither. Many of the Delewares turned Trapper or Mountain Men, and hunted as far west as the Rockies. Sometimes making as much as a thousand dollars in a season. Many were murdered and robbed on their way back to the reservation. In 1867 they sold their Kansas lands and associated themselves with the Cherokees. Descendents of the Wolf Prairie Delewares now live in Oklahoma, but they have passed out of existance as a tribe. AN UNUSUAL DEATH MARKS A POINT IN TIME On the afternoon of June 8, 1911, the late Vetra Dees Wells, then a young girl, was busily engaged in the endless chores that seemed never to be done around the remote rural households of that day, when a dark cloud came up. Although it did not completely hide the sun it emitted several bright, siziling flashes of lightning, each followed by a loud clap of rumbling thunder. The Lee Dees family were living on what was then called the Tate Place. It was located west and south of the McClellan Townhouse, and about a quarter mile from the East Muddy Creek, as Big Muddy river was called in those days. That afternoon, Lee, accompanied by his son Herman, Son-In-Law Joe Wilson; and neighbor Alsey Brown, had gone fishing, using the method called "Hogging". This was done by setting a seine around a clump of brush, a leg, or a patch of weeds, and hemming the rough fish such as carp and buffalo, that lay around such submerged objects, against the seine and catching them with the hands. Some men were so good at this that they did not even need the seine, but could catch the fish with their bare hands as they lay napping alongside a log. Some of the fish would weigh as much as 20 pounds. Although this was a highly productive form of fishing and usually was followed by a big fish fry, it was considered a low form of fishing by some people. Tunder and lightning caused Vetra to glance apprehensively toward the place in the creek where she knew her father and the others would be. She was looking almost directly into the sun which blurred her vision, but thought she could see someone running toward the house. When next she looked the person was much more nearer and still running. She could tell by now that he was a grown man who seemed to be dressed in white from the waist up and had on dark trousers below. She called out that there was someone running up from the creek with a white shirt on. Electrified the rest of the family dashed outside in time to see her father running toward them, bare from the waist up, and shouting that Alsey had been struck by lightning. The fishermen had been moving up the creek to a new set and had just arrived at a barbed wire water-gap when the cloud came up. Alsey was in the act of climbing over the wire when the bolt of lightning struck, and he tumbled from the fence and sank into the water. No one else was injured and they all hurried to his aid. When he was dragged ashore it was obvious that he was citically injured, if not dead, and thus it was that Lee hurried to the house to get a team so he could be transported to a Doctor, while Herman and Joe gave such aid as they were able. By the time Lee returned with the wagon it was apparent that Alsey was beyond the help of any earthly power, so the women were sent on ahead to break the news to his wife and family while Lee and the boys came along more slowly bearing the body. He was taken to his home about an eighth of a mile north and a quarter mile east of the Tate Place. (He lived on the north side of the road, west of McClellan Town House where the John Phelps family lived for so long.) Only wealthy people were embalmed in those days, so Alsey was "Layed out" at home where the neighbors came and "sat up" with him, that night. He was buried the next afternoon. Alsey and Betty (Bean) Brown and three children, Howard, Alta, and Velma. The morning of the day he was killed he had gone across the flat bridge over the creek and west across the bottoms past the Jim Roberts and Jake Masters homes into the west side of Long Prairie, where he bought a wagon bed load of stock pea seed, planning to start breaking ground and sowing the peas the next day. The day after the funeral Uncle Doug Wells contacted a group of the neighbors and they all met at the plot of land where Alsey had planned to sow the peas. Ten people showed up with teams and plows. Nine walking plows and one two bottom gang plow pulled by four horses and belonging to Erie Ford, but driven by Paul Masters. After about two thirds of the land had been plowed, Uncle Doug put some of the men to harrowing and others to sowing. Eight year old Howard Brown, (Alsey's only son) drove the wagon load of peas around the field keeping everyone supplied with seed, and by night the ten acre field was plowed, harrowed, and seeded. For many years thereafter people were admonished to stay away from the creek when there was any danger of lightning. Young boys who went swimming and stayed throughout a thunder shower were apt to get their hide tanned when they got home. And for many years the death of Alsey Brown became a point in time and other things were discussed as being either before or after Alsey was killed. (From interview with Vetra Dees Wells and Albert (RED HORSE) Roberts.) THE OLD PRIMITIVE BAPTIST-CHURCH OF CHRIST BUILDING Now that we have acquired the old building that once housed the Primitive Baptist and the Church of Christ Congregations in Waltonville, it seems appropriate to say something about the former organization. The Baptist movement came to Illinois in 1787 when Elder James Smith came from Kentucky to Monroe County Illinois Territory and ministered to a group of Baptists at New Design. The first people baptized into the Baptist faith there cut the ice on Fountain Creek and were immersed in its frigid waters in February 1794. Two years later (1796) Elder David Bagley organized the first Baptist Church in the Illinois Territory there. This was the first protestant movement in Illinois. From there Elders spread over the country as it settled, ministering to small groups of Baptist in homes and cabins until the groups grew large enough in each community to establish and maintain their own church. New churches were established at the request of such groups of members living in an area. Shadrach Cheek came from the New Design settlement in a very early day to hold services and establish churches in Perry and Washington counties. Nine Mile and Holt's Prairie were two of those churches. He was also a visiting minister to the little group of Baptists in southwest Jefferson County who were meeting in homes in the 1830's. With the arrival of Elder Joe Hartley in the area, the small group of Baptists petitioned for a church to be established in that area. On May 7, 1842 a group of Elders from Nine Mile and Holt's Prairie and Moses Neal from Salem Church near Benton listened to the articles of faith proclaimed by the small congregation and pronounced them a legally constituted Regular Baptist Church of Jesus Christ. Around 1830 a division had grown up amoung the Baptist churches over the emphasis to be placed upon foreign missions. Those sticking to the old concepts came to be known as Regular or Primitive Baptists while those who espoused the support of foreign missions were called Missionary Baptist. A great many people referred to the believers in the old order as Hard Shell Baptists. When the village of Waltonville was established along the W. C. & W. Railroad tracks a great many members of the Horse Prairie Regular Baptist Church near Winfield, moved to the new community and established homes there. They soon petitioned for a church to be known as the Union Primitive Baptist Church of Waltonville. In 1903 the building now owned by The Prairie Historians wa erected. The first services were held in the building in January 1904. It was a member of The Bethel Association. Other churches belonging to that association were Salem, Middle Fork, Moore's Prairie and Nine Mile. The records of the Bethel Association for September 1923 show Joseph Hicks and Vincent Hamilton as Messengers and M. E. Hamilton as Church Clerk. The Ninety-Sixth Annual Association Meeting was held in the Union Baptist Church in Waltonville, beginning Friday before the Third Sunday in September in 1925. The last Baptist services were held in the building in 1926. After that it remained empty for several years. In 1932 the members of The Church of Christ, who had been holding meetings in the home of the members, or wherever space was available, began to yearn for the old building in which to hold their services. David P. Wells, a rural mail carrier, whose wife was a member of the congregation purchased the building and presented it to The Church Of Christ in Waltonville, Ill. They held services there until late in 1969. The last minister was the late Paul H. Wells. After the collapse of the Waltonville congregation the building was presented to Mt. Vernon and then to Sesser Church of Christ from whom it was purchased by the Prairie Historians. It will now be the home of that organization to be used as a meeting place and a small museum in which to display historical objects of the surrounding area. Small cases will be placed around the walls in which to display tools, documents, pictures, houshold gadjets, and other objects, together with information explaining the use, former owners and other historical information about the object. If you have material for display please contact the officers of the Prairie Historians. We wish to express our heartiest thanks for the many contributors so generously be- queathed toward the purchase of the building. We must, however, raise $500.00 more to erase the debt that is being guaranteed by the signatures of the president and secretary, so any additional contributions will be greatly appreciated. A placque will be prepared and displayed in the entryway to the building listing the names of the contributors. SCHELLER ILLINOIS AS SEEN AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY by J. L. Denton Supplemental to an article in the last issue of The Prairie Historian submitted by Walter Nowland. The fire that destroyed the depot, elevator, and the first store on the lot just west of where Mrs. Lena Pyszka now lives was in 1913. I was on the scene helping keep the flames from catching adjacent buildings. It was on a windy windy night and the fire started in a small building that stood where Mrs. Skortz's garage now stands. Wind was from the northwest and the flames spread to the elevator then to the depot. Fire brands carried over to the store mentioned above and the building being a story and a half no one could get to the roof to fight the blaze, so it burned down and all efforts were given to the house where Mrs. Pyszka now lives, but was then occupied by L. A. (Fate) Heatherington and family and a barn that stood on the alley back of it. (Sebern Weaver started his first enterprise in this barn making a carpet stretcher and another item that attached to a dining table in a bow fashion to keep the table cloth off what food was left on the table after a meal.) The building where Mr. Romie Kabat now lives and a house to the west of it was threatened. There was a merchant by the name of Suttle who occupied this store mentioned above, before the fire. The man from Tamaroa who ran the store where Mrs. Skortz owns was Jimmie Norton. This was before Davis and Hester. Stock Buyers and Shippers of the area were Cliff Quinn, Harvey Quinn, Lee Quinn, Sid Mannen, Ira Mannen, and Charlie Elliston. Just west of the depot there was a timber yard from which many car loads of timber was shipped. Arlie Lemons was the foremost timber merchant of that time, supplying the mines of the area with props, motor ties, etc. There were four blacksmiths shops in Scheller, at different times, of course. The oldest was that of Peter Reidelbarger whose shop was just west of the house next to the present tavern. Strauder Nowland had a shop on his property, second house north of Skortz's garage. William Cunningham operated a shop in a building that stood just north of the old Hargis Store that is still standing. Jim Cunningham had a shop in the building that stood just north of the house now belonging to one of the Wright family I believe. William Laur also had a shop on the premises now owned by his daughter Nina Ruth Laur. Before the advent of the automobile Scheller was a thriving place because of its shipping facilities, schools, churches, etc. Much farm produce from north, west and south was brought to Scheller and business was good until the auto and truck changed all that for all future time. Poultry was shipped out occasionally, by the car load. Especially around the holidays. School teachers not previously mentioned were Bell Patton, Sam Smith, Marion Strickland, and Bertha Hartley. She boarded with us and had a guitar. She would play and sing of evenings. She was a charming lady and she spent her girlhood in the house, still standing, just north of the Nelson McCormack home. Civil War Veterans living about Scheller were B. M. Laur, Taylor Wright, Joe Allen, Frank Smith, William Cunningham, John H. Johnston, Jimmy Lemmon, Bill Isom, Frank Isom, Isaac Hall, Jasper Wells, whom I recall. Back to Scheller industries, Sebern Weaver with his son Albert operated an ironing board factory just east of the stock pen. They shipped several car loads to franchise holders in nearby territory. They later moved to Mt. Vernon where they operated a planing mill. Scheller remains only a skeleton of its former self. THE PIONEER LIFE OF SOLOMAN FORD as told in his own way. Soloman Ford was born in Anson County, in the State of North Carolina on January 26, A.D. 1812, and at the early age of three his parents moved to the State of Tennessee, near Woodbery on the head of Stone River in Cannon County, and remained there until about the age of 19 years. Then he took to the frontier fever, and leaving his parents, imigrated to Illinois with a man by the name of Joel Middleton. He had a one horse wagon. There was an incident that happened on the road I will mention. Joel Middleton owned an old bull dog that was a favorite, and George Ford, a cousin, owned a fine young bull dog that was a favorite also. We were somewhere close to the Kentucky and Tennessee line when these two favorite dogs got into a fight. They had been growling and quarreling all the way, so they got into a fight right. Of course, I respected the old dog most as he belonged to the man I was moving with and at the commencement of the fight I wanted the Ford boys to part them, but no they would not do it. Their dog was young and his antagonist was old and they wanted the young dog to whip the old one. After they had fought a considerable time, the old dog was turning the tide. Then the Ford boys were going to part the dogs whether or no, but I gathered my ox whip and turned the butt end of my whip stock and told them I'd knock the first one down that interfered. Well, from that the whole crew got into quite a mess, the women excepted, so for a while, they, the dogs, got into a mud hole. There the old dog would have drowned the young dog. I then told George Ford he could go in and pull the old dog off, so he did not wait to be invited the second time, but pushed into the mud and water up to his knees and pulled him off. That ended the fight, but it was several days before we all got right, but finally we did. Then after we got near the Ohio river, we had stopped for dinner. While eating the boys commenced complaining of being tired, to grunting considerably and all at once Old Billy Middleton then 60 years old, bannered anybody for a foot race. Well, the crowd kept silent. Finally Joel Middleton's wife said, "Sol, are you going to take that?" I said, "No, I'm not." So we all left our dinner, went up the road, stepped off 50 yeards and we started off. The first thirty yards we ran, I had no advantage of the old man, but at the end of fifty yards I came out about 1 1/2 feet the advantage. We then went back, finished our dinner and then we pulled across the river. There was nothing of importance until we came to Ratliff's Prairie in Marion County, on the third day of May, A. D. 1831. We then rested a few days, then went to Grand Prairie, near Iuka, Marion county. And it happended those few days we were resting in Little Prairie, I made the acquantance of one Sarah Morrison. Our acquantance ripened into love and in the following July 21, 1831, were joined in the Holy Bands of Matrimony at her fathers, Joseph Morrison, by Reverend David R. Chance, and those that witnessed our marriage were Joseph and Elizabeth Morrison, Joseph Nail, and Samuel and James Morrison, William Huff, and family and others. I don't remember all. Sarah Morrison was born May 15, A. D. 1812, in Washington County in the State of Tenn., and emigrated to Marion County, Illinois in the year 1829. The next feature of our married life, my father-in-law had about 20 acres of wheat. They had out all he intended to cut, leaving about 4 or 5 acres not cut. The next morning after our marriage he said to us if we would harvest the remainder we might have it, so we went in to harvest the remainder of the wheat, making our bread for the next 12 months very nicely. This harvesting was done with a reap hook, not commonly in use now days. I, shortly after our marriage bought a cabin in the prairie with nothing else attached to it, and moved to ourselves. I soon sold out and rented a place of Nelson Andrews and made a crop with him and the next year rented from my father-in-law and made a crop on his farm. Made a good crop and sold out in the fall and moved to the State of Mississippi. Our trip was dotted along with several draw backs, but nothing very strange. We stopped in route for Mississippi in what was called The District, that was a part of Tennessee. For a short time I was there intro- duced to the Ague. About Christmas we landed in Mississippi. We went into the wilderness, built our cabins and cleared up about four acres to put in corn. It was here I killed my first bear, it being an ordinary sized bear. There was plenty of bears, deer, panthers, wolves, wild cats, and in fact, all kinds of wild beasts ad reptiles. It was here I killed the largest snake I ever killed in my life. It was about 10 feet long and about 5 inches through. We took with us breadstuff to last til about the first of March. We, that is a brother- in-law and myself, went back to the settlement, about 50 miles and bought bread enough to last til about the first of June. When it was gone we went back after more bread. We could get plenty of corn, but could not get it ground on account of water being low, for all the mills were water mills. So we took our corn home to make meal out of it by beating it in a mortar. About the last of August we started back to Illinois. All went well until we got to the western District of Kentucky. We stopped and struck camp on a little rise and in the night some- time there was a cyclone. It sent us back about 40 yards and where our wagon stood everything was swept clean. Our cattle, when we turned them loose at night, started in the direction of the most damage done. I supposed we were left in the wilderness with no team, but it was lucky the oxen had turned and had gone back out of all danger. The next day we had fun geting through the fallen timber. We must have gotten at least a 1/4 mile and did well. The next morning we had but little trouble. We landed back in Illinois in September, in the latter part. When we landed we found my wife's father had died about the time we left Mississippi. After staying here two or three years, I concluded that there was a better country west, so pulled up and started. Landed in the State of Arkansas in Marion county, near Sugar Load Prairie. We landed well up in the winter. It was there I made contract with a miller. He let me have all the meal I wanted and took poultry in turn. It was here I killed my first panther, one of the largest that ever was in that country. It was here I made 1200 railes for 50 pounds of salt. For one pound of coffee 200 rails. We stayed in Marion county one year, then moved into Benton county. It was here I saw in Indian hung. He had killed his wife by sticking a knife in the top of her head. After staying in ARkansas 3 years, we moved to Lawrence county, Missouri. After staying 2 years, in the spring of 1845 we came back to Marion county Illinois and rented a farm of Old Uncle Billy Baldridge. We lived in Marion county until the fall of 1849. We then moved on to the Old John Dobbs farm, better known as the Willie Keller farm. (this was in Wolf Prairie, Editor) Stayed there 3 years then bought the old Billy Farthing Farm, better known as the Ed Palmer farm. Stayed there three years and then took what was then known as the Texas Fever very bad. I was hardly able to sit up, but launched out and got over in Arkansas and stopped in what was known as The Rich Woods, Randolph county. Stayed there one year and in the summer following I had the severiest attack of spinal disease and could not walk without two sticks for a year or more. There were three months when first taken that I was not out of the house. Stayed until the fall of 1885, then moved back to Jefferson county, Illinois and rented the farm of Old Uncle Jonathan Wells, known as the Thenus Farm. Stayed there five years, then rented the farm I first lived in in Jefferson County, known as the Keller Farm. Stayed there 8 years then bought this farm which I now live on. Soloman Ford died on January 26, 1893. His wife Sarah Ford, died November 14, 1898. The thirteen children of Soloman and Sarah Ford are as follows: Oldest (Jane Ford) married Dr. Swift's uncle of Mt. Vernon, Illinois, a widower with three children. Nancy Ford married a Wells, Jane Ballard's mother. The grandchildren are as follows: Emma Ballard, Ollie Ballard, Jennie Ballard, Mattie Ballard, Earl Ballard, Morton Ballard, Arthur Ballard. Joseph Franklin Ford married Harriet Scott. The grandchildren are as follows: William Ford, Shale Ford, Luna Ford, George Ford, (Elmer Ford and Tommie Ford) died when about 2 years old. Soloman Ford, Sarah E. Ford, Ollie Belle Ford, Harriet Scott Ford deceased. Joseph Franklin Ford, a widower married Victoria Roberson. The grandchildren are as follows: Rosa May Ford, Lillian Susan Ford, (Deceased 2 years) Danile Ford married has two children - Etta and Hall Ford. Betsy Ann Ford, married Raynor Gilbert. The grandchildren are as follows: Ollie Gilbert, (married Dave Dodds), Ervie Gilbert, Waldo Gilbert, 2 died young. Thomas Benton Ford, married Nancy Hicks. The grandchildren are as follows: Emma Ford, Annie Ford, Dollie Ford, Hattie Ford, Billie Ford, Hayne Ford, Edd Ford, Hall Ford, Agnes Ford. Susie Ford, married a Gilbert. The grandchildren are as follows: Menzes Gilbert of Alton, Illinois, John Gilbert (Prof) Carbondale, IL (deceased), G. Gale Gilbert (Lawyer) deceased, Eunice Louth of Mt. Vernon, IL., Hattie Shafer (Deceased). Albert Ford, married Etta Wells. The grandchildren are as follows: Erie Ford, Bertha Ford (Daniels) 2 died in infancy. Ella Ford, married Harvey E. Brown. The grandchildren are as follows: Halsey Clyde Brown, S. G. Brown, Calm Broan, Ziba Brown, Eddith Brown,Mollie Brown, Susie Brown, Beulah Brown. Willie Ford - 3 died when young. (Editors note: the list of children and grandchildren was doubtless written after Soloman Ford died.)
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