The Prairie Historian Jefferson County  Illinois

The Prairie Historian
December 1972  Volume 2  Number 4
Submitted By: Abby Newell
5newells@teltech.net

                                       

THE PRAIRIE HISTORIAN
December 1972
Volume 2   Number 4
 
 Issued by The Prairie Historians, an organization dedicated to the preservation of things 
of historic interest.  Centered in, but not limited to the southeast four townships of 
Jefferson County Illinois and contiguous regions without geographic limitation.  In this 
region lies Knob Prairie, Grand Arm Prairie, Long Prairie, Elk Prairie,
Horse Prairie, Wolf Prairie, and a number of smaller prairies.
 
   Founded 1971
   Membership fee per calender year
   Individual   $3.00
   Family   $5.00
 
Officers
President:  Jerry Elliston    Vice-Pres:  Ileta Philp
Secretary - Treasurer:  Estelle Holloway   Librarian:  Dorothy Knight
 
Directors:  Willard Fairchild,  Betty Borowiak, Louis T. Norris
 
Editor:  Jerry Elliston Associate Editors:  Margie Elliston, Hattie Fairchild, Louis Norris, 
Betty Borowiak, Hildred Roberts.
 
    CONTENTS
 Page
1- Contents
2-3-4  Long Prairie - description - settlers from writings of Adam Clark  Johnson 
5-6 Ryder - submitted by Pearl Ryder - and notes by editor.
7- Early Long Prairie Autos by Sam Black - Dirt Roads.
8-9 Long Prairie as Wayne Mandrell Saw It.
10- The Castor Bean by Inez Davis
11- My Journey By Covered Wagon - Estella Merriman Newell
12- Passanger Pigeons - by Beatrice Tuttle.
13-14-15-16 Some Family History of Long Prairie Residents of Long Ago - Inez Davis.
17-Rightnowar School 1894 and identity list.
 

LONG PRAIRIE DESCRIPTION
 According to an 1876 Atlas Long Prairie starts at the south end of section 17 in McClellan 
township and runs northeastward, taking in parts of 12 sections - 5-6-7-8-17 and 18 in 
McClellan, plus part of section 1 in Blissville, 25 and 26 in Casner and 29-30-31-32 in Shiloh.  
Ending up in the middle of Woodlawn.  When the first settlers came it was a sea of grass 
ranging from a half mile in width at the narrowest to nearly three miles wide at the greatest 
breadth and extending for almost 6 miles in length. 
 Only a few scattered traces of this huge prairie still remain.  Some tall prairie grasses, 
one called Turkey Foot or Big Bluestem (Androp-ogon gerardi). still grow along each side of 
the road north of Opal Elliston's house, near the middle of  section 18.  Long purple spires 
of Gay Feather or Blazing Star (Liatris) grows just east of the oil tanks there in August.  
Occasionally a sprig or two of the original prairie plants may be seen in a few other places, 
usually along a fence row where they are fighting a hopeless battle for survival 
against encroaching Fox-tail, brush, honey suckle and herbicides.
 Drive along the road between the siderows of tall prairie grass growing there in late 
September and you may be able to envision a huge expanse of waving prairie grasses as the 
pioneers saw it, if you have a strong imagination.
 
LONG PRAIRIE SETTLERS
 For information about the early settlers we must rely upon the stories of Adam Clark Johnson 
who wrote a series of articles about Jefferson County in the late 1800's, a collection of 
which has been maintained in the Mt. Vernon Public Library. 
The following by Adam Clark Johnson:
 "At a very early day, John and George Jackson came up from Pope County, fifteen miles above
Golconda, and settled at the north end of West Long Prairie.  They soon became dissatisfield 
and went back, but not before John's brother-in-law, Alfred Woods, and Alfred's father, 
William Woods, had come up, about 1821.  William Woods,or "Roaring Billy" was originally 
from Georgia, but had settled on the Ohio River near Elizabethtown.  His wife had been a 
widow Hawkins, and had two Hawkins children; a son, Henry or Harvey, I think, and a daughter 
Mrs. Bobo, on Red River not far from the Tennessee and Kentucky line.  Woods left two children 
on the Ohio, Hal who had married an O'Melveny, and Judy who had married Lorril or Laurel 
Harrison.
 "Roaring Billy" got his name from his pecular manner of hallowing when intoxicated.  He died 
in 1825 and his remains rest at Old Union.  He was a man of a good deal of natural diginity, 
and a share of what is now known as gas.  Besides the children already mentioned he left two 
sons, Alfred and Anderson. Alfred married a Jackson.  His mother-in-law, Mrs. Jane Jackson, 
after her first husband's death, married the then somewhat noted D. Chipps.
 Alfred Woods met a melancholy fate.  He and Uncle Lewis Johnson were out in the woods in
1828, making sugar; not far from camp they found a bee tree, and on felling it a limb hung, 
broke off, and fell upon Woods, killing him instantly.  He was brought to Union for burial, 
although the creek was so high, there being no bridge, that Jesse A. Dees, and some other 
stout young men had to construct a raft for the little procession to cross on.
 Alfred Wood's children were four sons and three daughters:  William, James, Leonard, Dick, 
Nancy(Mrs. Wm. Dodds), Elizabeth (Mrs. Jake Troutt), and Jane (Mrs. James Runnels).  
William Woods Jr., married Elizabeth Bedford in 1841, and died several year ago at his home 
near Woodlawn. James married a Dial in 1833, and lilved and died a mile or so west of William.  
Leonard first married J. McKinney's daughter, then Pamela Green, and went to Henderson County, 
Texas.  Dick, the last of Heard of him, lived two miles above Sandoval.
 Mrs. Woods was bitterly opposed to Nancy's choice; and when she found that Nancy and Bill 
Dodds had gone over to John Dodds to be married, she seized a large butcher knive and set out 
on foot at full speed to have her way, or have blood.  On reaching John's she was nearly 
exhausted, was told she was too late, was pretty easily overpowered, and said mildly, 
"I believe I'll go back home if some of you'll go with me;" so the war ended.
 Anderson Woods married Martha, daughter of Jacob Norton.  Jacob vetoed, but they were 
unanious and passed the bill over his veto, as usual.  Martha was at the gate, milking the 
cows; Anderson rode up, Martha jumped up behind him, and away they went.  When Norton moved 
away, not a great while after, Woods went with him, but in a few years returned, and in 1836 
was a candidate for the legislature.  He died the same year at Ab Estes', south of the 
square - taken sick suddenly while in town, and dying in less than 24 hours. Norton came and 
took the W's family to the "Hatchie" in southwest Tennessee.
 Some old settlers told me that the Greens, & c., were in Long Prairie as early as 1819.  
Jessee was the patriarch of them all and came from Robertson County, Tennessee, but originally
from Georgia.  He was called Jesse Button, to distinquish him from his son, who was called 
Jesse Purpose.  Jesse Button's wife was a widow Barsheba Bone who had three sons; 
William Bone, who remained south, John, who went to Missouri; and Barney, who went to 
Shelby County.  Jesse's own two sons were Jesse and Reuben.  
The sons of Jessee Jr., where John, James, Reuben, and Calvin.  This Reuben went to Gallatin 
County, thence to Mexico during the Mexican War and died.  The most of Jesse Purpose's family 
went to Shelby County.  
Jesse Button died half a mile north of Burt Lacey lives, about 60 years ago.  His son Reuben 
settled where he, and his widow after him, lived so long, in Grand Arm.  Reuben's wife was 
Drusilla Dees, and they raised eight or ten children, of whom Edwin and Barnette are perhaps 
best known.
 It was Jesse Button that used to get funny on public days and amuse the folks by dancing on 
the grass in his moccasins with so much agility.  And it was Jesse Purpose who fell into the 
creek one day when pretty drunk, caught a small limb just in time to save himself and hung 
there a long time soaking in a way that the most inveterate soaker could hardly fancy.  
Just before him grip entirely failed help came, but it is said that he then and there took 
the cold water pledge and drank no more.  Jesse, I may add, the father of Dick Minson's wife; 
Dick went to Alton.
 Prominent among later comers than those already mentioned were John Troutt come along from
1826 to 1829.  Troutt's family was large; his sons, Sam, Jake, Addison, John, Alfred and his 
daughters, Mrs.James Smith, Mrs. Ferguson, Mrs. William Runnels, and Mrs. Mike Troutt, who 
married her cousin.  I think Runnels also married his cousin, his mother being a Troutt.  
At any rate they were Virginians, and had lived a while in Gallatin County.
 Smith was a native of Clark County, Virginia, but perhaps when Norton left Alfred Woods 
bought his place, and now Smith took the Norton place and Troutt the Woods place half a mile 
north.  Runnels was a half mile farther north, though he came two years or so later than 
Smith.  Ferguson was from Hickman, Tennessee.  He was father of Andy and other sons, and of 
Mrs. Henry Champ (Nancy) and Mrs. William Singleton.
 Near the same time as these Stephen Kennedy came over from Dry Arm in Washington County,
with his wife's brothers, James and Arch Johnson, and put up a mill where Burt Lacey lives.  
They went back to Washington County.  Ben Cox, too, settled on the west side of the Prairie.  
George Rightnowar settled in the south end of the Prairie, where his sons, Russ, Henry, John, 
Adam, and his son-in-laws, Sam Black, John Vaughn and John Hicks have since lived.  
George R. was a native of Pennsylvania, but had lived some time in Hardin County, Illinois.  
His wife's name was Jerusha Rose.
 Earlier than these, perhaps as early as 1821, William Finch settled between Long Prairie and 
the creek.  He was a good man, and I reckin a kinder man to his family never lived.  He had 
twelve children, but none retained the name of Finch.  Some of them were; Mrs. Isaac Hicks 
twice, (Isaac's first and second wife were sisters) Mrs. Haynie Hicks,  Mrs. David Hicks, 
Mrs. Ben McKinney, Mrs. Andy Livesy. Mrs. Andrew Farley, and Mrs. W. H. Sullivan.  Uncle Billy,
as we called him, came from Breckrinridge County, Kentucky.
 Rueben Green's, in the Grand Arm, was a stopping place for travelers, especially the lawyers 
stopped for dinner, and one day, after disposing of the meat and vegetables, one said, 
"Mrs. Green, have you some milk?  I see several cows about the place."  "Yes, she said, 
a little confused," but the fact is Judge, we've nothing to drink it out of."  "What do your 
children drink it out of,"  persisted the Judge.  "Why we have some goards, but ---."  
"Well bring me some in a goard, if you please."  And she brought out a supply of goards that
had been neatly trimmed, boiled, and scraped till they looked somewhat like cups, and her 
guests not only enjoyed the milk, but admired the vehicles.
 At that time travelers from the west came around by Minson's and Reub Green's.  
Jesse A. Dees originated the present Nashville Road when a boy.  He and some of his friends 
were camped out on the west fork for some purpose, perhaps hunting or fishing, when a man came
along and wished one of them to pilot him across country in the direction of Beaucoup 
settlement. Jesse undertook the job, and the trail they made was soon afterwards followed by 
someone else passing through. It soon became a path, and when the road was at last located 
this path was to the county line.  Then the other county took it up and followed it to 
Beaucoup."
 The 1879 History of Washington County, says, " A peculiar characteristic of the early 
settlers of southern Illinois was to settle in or near the timber.  Timber was essential 
to the building of houses, barns, fences and firewood, while the danger of being burnt out 
by a prairie fire was lessened."
 In 1838 two Washington County farmers were caught in a prairie fire while returning from 
mill with an all wood wagon drawn by oxen.  It doesn't say what happened to the oxen, but 
Robert Kelso turned the wagon over and hid under it.  He escaped without injury.  
George McNair dashed for a nearby creek but was overtaken by the fire.  He survived the 
ordeal, but was so badly burned that he was a cripple for life.
 The breaking of the prairie sod eliminated the fire hazard and allowed trees to grow up.  
When the timber market was opened up by the railroads much of the prairie was covered by a 
forest of huge trees. 
 
     RYDER
    submitted by Pearl Ryder
 
 In January 1891, Francis Ryder and his son Frank Wilson Ryder of Michigan came to Jefferson 
County and purchased 140 acres of farm and timber land in McClellan Township just north of 
the junction of Big Muddy River and Rayse Creek.
 Father and son farmed the land, cut some of the timber and built a house, then Mrs. Ryder
arrived from Michigan.
 The Ryder men continued to farm and operate a sawmill selling some of the lumber and using
some to build a larger house with a store building that housed a General Store, a U. S. Post 
Office and a Photography Studio.  And 3 or 4 other houses.
 Mrs. Louisa Ryder Modert and young son Alson Wilson Modert, (Dr. A. W. Modert of Mt. Vernon)
came from Michigan to visit her parents.
 Mrs. Modert liked the area so much she persuaded her husband, Peter Manville Modert to sell
their possessions in Michigan and come to "Ryder" to live near her parents. The Modert family 
lived in the Marco Community a few years where two sons were born, Orley G. Modert, 
of Mt. Vernon, Illinois)and Peter who lived less than a year.  Then they moved into one of 
the houses at "Ryder" where a daughter Violet, (Mrs. John Lloyd Davis, Mt. Vernon) was born.
 In 1897 or 1898  young lady (from Dix, Illinois) Miss Mattie Brown, came to the community 
to teach school.  She met Frank Ryder and they were married in December 1898.  They too made 
their home in "Ryder" and helped with the business operations, the general store, post office, 
and photography studio, and saw-mill.
 Two children were born to Mr. & Mrs. Frank W. Ryder, Annie Ferne (Mrs. Mitchel Rachels of E.
St., Louis, IL) and Harl Edgar Ryder (of Mt. Vernon, IL).
 Shortley after 1900, Mr. & Mrs. Francis Ryder moved back to Michigan.
 The P. M. Moderts moved to Mt. Vernon, to build houses, and Frank continues to operate the 
sawmill selling lumber and building houses in Mt. Vernon, Dix, and Centralia.
 About 1908 the Frank Ryder family moved from Ryder to Mt. Vernon and went into the grocery
business.
 In 1910 the Frank Bean family moved into the big house and farmed the land until 1932, when 
they bought their own farm.
 Wayman Brown and family rented and lived on the farm until they built their own home.  
Bud Brown still farms the land for the Ryder family.  
 All the old houses and barns have been demolished.  A few acres have been sold to Rend Lake 
for a Wild Life Preserve.  The rest of the land is still being farmed.
 
NOTES BY THE EDITOR:
 The W. C. and W railroad was built in 1892.  The first railway mail service into this area 
was on November 11th of that year when the Baggage Master proudly handed Isaac W. (Wilse) 
Robinson, the Postmaster in the new town of Waltonville the first mail pouch, inaugerating 
the new service.
 
 On January 4, 1895, a Post Office was established at Ryder with Philine Ryder as Postmaster 
of record.  Frank Ryder became Postmaster on December 5, 1901.  The Ryder Post Office was 
doomed to a short life, however, for with the inaugeration of Rural Free Delivery at the 
Waltonville Post Office, people began to petition for rural delivery into Long Prairie.  
The required number of signatures were obtained and Daniel S. (Steve) Fairchild started 
carrying mail right through Ryder and delivering it into rural boxes
along the way, on January 8, 1904.
 There was little need for a Post Office at Ryder Station after that and on the 14th day of 
May, 1906. the Ryder Post Office was closed forever.
 Now, three quarters of a century later, we can hardly realize the importance of the little 
town of Ryder to the surrounding area.  In 1891 there was very few products in south Long 
Prairie for which there was a market, and even then they had to be hauled for many a weary 
mile.  But with the building of the railroad in 1892, the big city markets were layed at the 
very doorstep of the Long Prairie people and anyone who could hew a tie, cut cord wood 
(most people in the cities were still burning wood at that time), or wrangle a job at the mill
or in the woods could make a few dollars with which to buy things for his family.  They left 
the era of subsistance farming and became a part of the great industrial complex.
 Timber was an abundant crop, and the sawmill at Ryder was really a factory turning timber,
the raw material, into saleable products.  These were loaded aboard railway cars and some of 
the finest timber in the world found its way into structures throughout the United States.
 It is a definite fact that Ryder timber traveled all over the United States, for the most of 
the material that came from the sawmill at Ryder for a good many years went into the 
construction of railway cars at the train factory in Mt. Vernon.  The sills were forty feet 
long, so uncountable numbers of tall straight trees were harvested in south Long Prairie and 
the nearby bottoms, and sawed into sills for railway cars.
 The railroad ties and cordwood that was shipped out at Ryder would stagger the imagination.
Old timers told of seeing a three or four acres lot stacked so full of tall piles of woodland 
products that you had to search for a place to unload and sometimes wait for space to be 
emptied by loading the material on railroad cars.
 At that time people from the surrounding area would drive their rigs to Ryder, tie the horse 
to the back end, which was filled with hay, and catch the train into Mt. Vernon.  There they 
would shop or visit until about 3:00 PM, then catch the passenger back to Ryder, rehitch their
horse and go on home.  
 The passenger train continued to run, and could be boarded at Ryder until April 14, 1953, 
but there was only one train each way per day at that time.
 Warner Louth first started the sawmill where Ryder was to be in 1889.  Sam Black drove a slip
(a horse drawn excavating machine) to build the mill pond, that is there yet, and then hauled 
logs to the Louth mill, while living across the road west in a log house.  Ida (Gilbert) 
Black, his young wife, cooked for the mill hands.  Sam was paid 75 cents per day.  We don't 
know what Mrs. Black was paid for the meals (surely not very much at those wages).
 About three years later the Louth mill was moved to Conant, IL and the Ryder mill moved in.
Both were powered by wood burning steam engines.
 The Prairie Historians have photo copies of Sam Black and Ira Rightnowar, each atop his own 
load of logs, heading for the Ryder mill.  Hurrah for the Ryder Photo Studio.

   
    EARLY LONG PRAIRIE AUTOS
    Reminiscing by Sam Black
 
 About 1905 or 1906 the first automobile came to Long Prairie.  It was a Brush, owned by J. R. 
Black.  It was red, had one cylinder, kerosene headlamp, and one seat with room for two people.
There was no top and no windshield.  A small platform behind the seat would hold one small 
person. The putt-putt of the engine scared all the horses half to death, so to avoid run away 
teams, the car was pulled to one side and stopped, while the horses shied around it.  If it 
rained while you were out in the car, you found another way home, for the automobile could 
never get through the muddy roads at that time.  A few years later, three or four maybe, 
Lloyd Rutherford bought a Buick, two seater.  This car was black and did have a windshield 
and cloth top.
 Uncle Lloyd drove the car one time. He almost drove it into a big ditch so he sold the Buick 
and never drove it again.
 Uncle George Rightnowar got a car a little later on, but I don't know what kind it was.
 
 
     DIRT ROAD
 In the early days of the auto (and until about 30 years ago), especially during the winter 
months,a set of deep, automobile tracks ran from Ryder to "The Slab" or "Hard Road" at State 
Route 15, a distance of almost 6 miles.  Similiar tracks from tributary roads led into the 
thoroughfare tracks.  When one car met another it was almost impossible to get the car out 
of the ruts so they could pass.  Sometimes one or the other had to back up for half a mile 
or more before finding a place where the wheels could "climb out".
 In the summertime it was almost as deep in dust.  A huge cloud spewed from the rear wheels 
and hung in the air for a long, long time, marking the passage of the car from one end of 
the Prairie to the other.
 An early morning walk down one of those dusty roads by a barefoot boy with a lively curiosity
amounted to a survey of the wildlife of the area.
 All the activities of the night before were written in the dust of the road.  Animal, reptile,
insect and bird.  Sometimes he might even come upon a dung beetle or "Tumble Bug" still busy 
at his task.  The sacred Scarab Beetle of the ancient Egyptians would be busily building up 
the ball that would incubate its egg.  Alternately rolling it in soft manure, then in the 
dust until it reached a suitable size before burying it in the earth to hatch by the heat 
generated in the decomposing matter.  The patience and industry of this curious insect 
(which so fastinates boys) so impressed the Egyptians that they thought it embodied the 
spirit of a diety.
 Snake tracks of all sizes could be found, who like the hen "crossed the road because she 
crossed the road".  Sometimes they also crossed back in their seemingly aimless nocturnal 
wanderings.
 The tracks of ground birds could be told from those who spend most of their time in trees, 
and of course, 'possums, rabbits, 'coons, and skunks left their marks in the dust.
 The multitude of tiny byg tracks were a thing to ponder over.
 A boy familiar with the road  could have been blingfolded and still find his way about by 
the smells. Sassafras, sumac, mulberry, apples, onions, garlic, and even ditches of stagnent 
water all had their own odor. Noisy birds told of tall trees, and meadowlarks told of untilled
ground. These are things young boys discovered long before Henry D. Thoreau did.
 
 
   LONG PRAIRIE AS WAYNE MANDRELL SAW IT.
 
 The History of Jefferson County, by Perrin 1883, states that George Rightnowar of 
Pennsylvania came to this area at an early date.  He was a farmer.  His wife Jerusha Rose 
was the mother of ten children.  Adam, a son, was born near Elizabethtown, Hardin County, 
Illinois, March 29, 1824.  Eliza Howe, a daughter of Samuel and Anna E. Howe was born in 
this county August 26, 1829.  Adam Rightnowar was united in marriage to Eliza Howe 
March 1849.  Their post office was Woodlawn, Illinois.
 To this union eight children were born, Jerusha Ann, a daughter, was married to James E. 
Mandrell. To this union seven children were born.  One, of six boys and one girl, my father, 
William N. Mandrell, was born July 18, 1878.
 To the best of my knowledge the children of Adam and Eliza Rightnowar, as well as the 
children of James E. and Jerusha Ann Rightnowar Mandrell, were born in or near Long Prairie, 
McClellan Township, Jefferson County, Illinois.
 As a young man William Mandrell left Illinois for Colorado.  He was united in marriage to 
Lucy V. Cowan, formerly of Springfield, Missouri.  The writer and one sister were born in 
Colorado.  Moving to Idaho, two more sisters were born.  Our mother died November 1, 1918.
 My first sight of Illinois was March 1919.  In my teens, never having lived on a farm, 
knowing no one, left much to be desired for a lad in a new country.  Also, to be removed 
from the country where mountains seemed to surround you, where rivers and streams were crystal
clear and sage brush, cactus and sand  were common place.  That had been my home country.
 The unobstructed view of the horizon from the prairies of Jefferson County, the seemlingly 
unbroken tracts of wilderness in the bottom lands, the acres of untouched woodlands fringing 
the bottoms as well as woodlots that dotted the prairie soon became a part of my environment.
 We lived in Jefferson County less than five years, for the most part in Long Prairie and 
surrounding fringe areas.  We attended Black, Rightnowar, and Waltonville Schools.
 Being descendants, on my father's side of the family, of one of the many pioneer families 
who came to the midwest to find and carve new homes in the late 1700's and early 1800's, 
we are naturally grateful to our heritage.  Their choice of lands, the never ending struggle 
for existence, clearing the timber, planting their crops, and living from year to year, 
withstanding cruel cold winters, fighting disease and pestilence, facing hunger and privation 
many times, they proved their worth as a hardy folk.  Where they chose to locate in Jefferson 
County has proven to have been a good choice as evidenced by the many descendants of the 
original settlers now permantely located on the lands of their ancestors or nearby.
 My acquaintance with the people and the surrounding countryside was contained roughly 
within an area from Mt. Vernon to Woodlawn to Waltonville, and back to Mt. Vernon.   
Long Prairie was roughly the center.
 The remains of part of the log structure of the house, a barn gradually yeilding to the 
elements, the rements of one or two other small buildings and of couse the well, were all 
that remained in evidence of the original home of Adam Eliza Rightnowar, about three-eights 
of a mile south of Long Prairie Church, in 1919.  I have been told by many people that this 
home was a favorite stopping place for many pioneer families seeking new homes as well as 
travelers who wished water and a place to rest.
 There were many other log structures still in use in the area at that time.  Homes that had 
added one or more rooms to the original log cabin were quite common.  Split rail fences were 
a common sight. Wood burning stoves for heating as well as cooking were the rule.  
Inside plumbing with water, other than the shallow well from which you carried it into the 
house was enjoyed by only a few.  
 Electricity was a luxury enjoyed by city folk only and the rural telephone was a wonderful 
convenience when it worked, or you could find an opening to make a call on the party line.  
Mud roads, axle deep many weeks throughout the year, floodwaters in and over the bottom roads 
made transportation and travel mostly impossible.  Horse and wagon, or buggy, were the most 
reliable means of travel.  Year round roads were only a dream and the few rural families who 
enjoyed the luxury of an automobile were limited to its use.
 The tree, had been known as The Old Tabernacle.  My father had known of its existence since
childhood.  Squirrel dens and nests in the limbs and high branches made the tree an attraction
for hunters.  
Swarms of bees had established residence in the hollows of the huge limbs.  No one knows how 
many colonies may have been in the tree.  It was felled by unknown parties in the early 1900's
for the wild honey.  I stand to be corrected but I think it was a huge sycamore.  It had grown
in the bottom timberland about a half mile east and a quarter mile south of the Rightnowar 
Cemetery. I saw what remained of the "Old Giant" with my father in 1919.  The decay of rotting
wood had still not obliterated the enormous girth and height the tree had grown.  
Its age no one knew.
 Sawmills - There were many scattered throughout the area.  Most were small operations, 
powered by wood fired traction steam engines.  Besides the rough sawed lumber as a finished 
product, the slab pile was not a waste.  Wood for firing the steam engine as well as for home 
use fire wood came from the slabs.  Also, many people will not forget the experience of riding 
a wagon or buggy over a stretch of impassible mud roads that had been cordouroyed, made from 
slabs from these sawmills.  The saw dust was about the only waste product, but in years before
my time much of it was used for insulation in home storage ice houses as well as fruit and 
vegetable storage houses.
 Sorghum making -  A book could be written on this subject.  Masters of this art were in the 
prairies of Jefferson County as well as all the southland.  People from miles around brought 
their cane to these miniature factories for processing.  I am happy to have had the privilege 
of spending an entire day at one of these "Mills", as they were called.  The odor and tang of 
sweet scented vapors coming from the cooking pans is something one does not forget.
 Rural community life was centered around the church, school, and the family.  The country
school was the focal point of activity for social gatherings and local entertainment for 
children as well as grownups.
 The way of life of the people of the past, as they built their homes in the prairies, worked 
for survival, learned the arts and crafts by trial and error, are subjects of interest and 
historical significance, and it is well that they are being recorded now.
 

    THE CASTOR BEAN
    by Inez Black Davis
 
 The dictionary describes the Castor Oil Plant as a tropical old world herb, grown for the oil
rich beans.  The poisonous seed or bean yields a pale viscous fatty oil used as a cathartic or
lubricant.  It is native to Africa.
 Back in the "80's the cultivation of the Castor Bean flourished here in Jefferson County, and
was the leading cash crop of that day.
 This is the story of that time as remembered and told to me by my father, Sam Black, whose 
family planted and raised the Castor Bean.
 The Castor Bean was planted, by hand, as early as possible in the spring. After the ground 
was prepared, the rows were laid off with a turning plow, pulled by one horse. A turning plow 
was a small 6 or 7 inch plow, with a single share, also called a diamond plow. The seed were 
then dropped by hand, about 4 or 5 foot apart, and covered with the same turning plow and 
horse.
 Cultivation was accomplished with the same tool and it required two trips to cultivate each 
row. A double shovel cultivating plow was used to cultivate the space between the rows.  
This process was called "bustin' the middles".
 My Dad's family planted about 10 acres each year.  After the crop was planted and before 
harvest time a bean yard was prepared.  This was a plot of ground about 50 feet square.  
First the ground was scraped clean and bare with hoes.  Then a pole frame was put around it.  
Boards about 4 feet long were stood on end against the pole frame, at an angle, to catch the 
beans as they popped from the pods.  
This caused the beans to slide back into the "bean yard".
 Sometime in July, depending on how early the crop was planted, the seed pods begans to mature.
Then began the time consuming process of harvesting the beans.  As the seed pods ripened they 
were cut from the stalks by hand, using a small knife.  The seed pods were then dropped into 
a box, attached to a one horse sled, and then taken to the "bean yard".
 The harvesting continued every day from then until frost.  By the time you finished the last 
row, the pods on the first row were ready to cut again.  There were ripe pods, green pods, and
blooms on the plants, all at the same time.  The ripe pods, were spread out in the bean yard, 
threshed themselves by popping. On a hot dry day the beans made quite a noise as they popped 
from the pods, sometimes flying as far as 15 or 20 feet.  Lots of them popped over the board 
fence, and quite a few were lost this way. Care had to be taken that none of the livestock 
ate any of the beans, for if they did, they died.
 Occasionally the pods were turned over to expose them to the sun, and if it rained, day or 
night, everyone hurried to the bean yard and using the board fence, covered the beans as best 
they could.
 When the beans were all harvested, threshed, and the pods discarded, they were swept into 
piles, and put through a hand operated fan mill.  Then, they were loaded into wagons and 
taken to market. They were bought in most nearby towns, this family sold theirs in Waltonville.  
The market price was from $1.00 to $1.25 per bushel and yielded from 25 to 30 bushels per acre.
 My dad thoroughly disliked working in the Castor Beans and vowed never to grow then, when he
grew up and farmed for himself. However, the culture of the Castor Beans was discontinued 
before 1900, and farmers turned to other and probably easier ways of making a livelihood.
 
    MY JOURNEY BY COVERED WAGON
         by
    Estella Merriman Newell
    (submitted by Mrs. Audrey Merriman)
(Editors note:  Estella Newell was a long time, Long Prairie resident, wife of Asa Newell, 
mother of Joel, Russell, and Herbert William Newell, Mrs. Gladys Lacey and Mrs. Velma McNeal.)
 
 I was born in Fayette County,  Illinois on April 18, 1883. In the year of 1886, my father 
sold out and moved his family to western Kansas, by covered wagon.  I did not remember much 
about that trip, since I was only three years old.  
 In Kansas my father took up a Government claim. There was no frame houses at that time.  
Everyone lived in "dug-outs".  Ours was small and there were three of us children: Ezra, Matt, 
and myself.
When Ma cooked a meal and Pa was in the house, Matt and I had to get in the cradle. I don't 
know where Ezra got, - - - probably on the bed.
 The wind blew hard most of the time.  If your hat blew off, you never got it.  Big tumble 
weeds sailed across the fields as big as washtubs.  Our crops looked good for awhile, but 
the hot winds burned everything up.
 In the winter Pa had to go to the mill for flour and meal and it took three days for the 
trip. Ma always worried 'til he got home because of the terrible snow storms.
 We burned cow chips for fuel.
 We were supposed to stay on our claim for two years, but my brother Ezra took typhoid fever
from a neighboring homesteader after helping him with chores.  There were no doctors near us, 
and Ezra died at the age of eight years, seven months, and ten days. After he passed away, 
Ma was so unhappy and worried, that we moved to Vernon County, Missouri, 13 miles from 
Shelton, Mo, and 7 miles from Verdella, where we traded. We were on the road from Kansas to 
Mo, four weeks and five days.
 In Mo., we lived in a nice home and my father was a tenant farmer, for six years. Then my 
grand-father Merriman got sick in Fayette County, Illinois., and Pa wanted to come home so 
he could settle his estate among his children. Pa had a sale and we moved back to Illinois, 
but it took us so long to get there grandpa was already dead. 
 There were two wagons made the trip from Mo, back to Illinois. Uncle John Cantrell came 
back with us. He drove a big blind horse. Once we came to a river where the water was so 
clear it didn't look very deep but Ma wanted Uncle John to ride his blind horse out into 
the river to see how deep it was, because he didn't have any family to leave, if anything 
happened to him. It made Uncle John angry, for he said that his life was worth as much 
as Pa's.  We made it across alright becuase the water was not too deep.
 We only traveled about 25 miles per day. When we got near St. Louis, Mo., we camped so that
we could start across the city early enough to get through and make camp by night.
 I got so tired having to take care of my sister Clara, who was a baby.  I had to stay in 
the wagon with her while Ma cooked outside the wagon.  When we camped, the neighbors living 
near, would come to our campfire at nights and talk 'til late at night. About the only 
exercise I got was walking by the side of the wagon. 
 Pa made fire kindlers by using round balls of clay on a wire stem, and soaking them in 
kerosene. My brother, Matt, sold them along the way. I remember one German woman gave him 
a half peck of white onions, two white chickens, and some sweet potatoes for two kindlers.
 Pa had a grey hound dog tied behind the wagon and a watch dog followed along. We lost the 
watch dog in St. Louis and never expected to hear from the dog again, but my Uncle "Lide" 
wrote that he had come back home, and not finding us there, had gone 13 miles farther on 
to Uncle "Lide's".  We had stayed there for three days before we started for Illinois, and 
it was the only time we had been there.
 From the time we left Vandalia, in Fayette County, Illinois, and then came back to stay, 
which was about seven or eight years, we went through St. Louis three times in a covered 
wagon. We watered our horses in the same watering trough each time.
 

    PASSENGER PIGEONS
    by
    Beatrice Tuttle
 
 My first attendance at Southern Illinois Normal University (now Southern Illinois University) 
Carbondale, Illinois, began in the fall of 1915, and extended for a two year period. My 
Zoology teacher was Professor John Gilbert, a former Jefferson County resident. He told 
this story in class the day we studied about wild pigeons.
 Wild pigeons were one time so numerous that the sky would be blackened by them. In the
extreme southwest portion of Jefferson County, (Bald Hill Township), there remained a large 
amount of timber.  At eventide, when pigeons went to roost in the woods, they sat in solid 
rows on the limbs of the trees.  There was a bounty paid for these birds to help eradicate 
them as nuisances.
 Mr. Eli Gilbert, the father of Professor Gilbert, and the older brother, Gale, planned a 
trip to the Fred Dodge farm in Bald Hill Township to get two wagon loads of wild pigeons.  
It was approximately twenty miles to their destination.
 Professor Gilbert was younger and cried to accompany the others. He managed to be included.
They left home just after noon and arrived at their destination about sunset.They took food 
for themselves and their horses.
 Upon arrival the group ate their supper, fed the horses, and rested until darkness partially
fell. Plenty of birds had started to line the tree boughs. Finally, each tree limb seemed to 
be filled solid. One bird was caught by hand and injured so it would scream and cry. Then 
great black clusters of pigeons flew around that one.  The men would shoot into the black 
mass with shot guns and kill them by the bushels.  This act was repeated until both wagon 
beds (with sideboards) were filled.  The trip home in McClellan Township took them until 
after midnight. The next morning Mr. Eli Gilbert and sons took the loads of pigeons into 
Mt. Vernon. Flat cars were waiting near the old flour mill, which was located on the south 
side of the L and N tracks at 17th Street and Broadway.  Their birds were tabulated and they 
received a few cents each as bounty.  The several hundred birds brought a tiny sum and they 
felt well paid.
 Even when Professor Gilbert told this story in 1916, the Passanger Pigeon was practically 
extinct in all parts of the county.
 
 
  SOME FAMILY HISTORY OF LONG PRAIRIE RESIDENTS OF LONG AGO.
    submitted by Inez Davis
 
 This information was gathered from a great many people.  It is sadly incomplete.  Please
excuse errors and omissions.
 
Legend:
f=father  
m=mother
c=children
w=wife
w1=1st wife
w2=2nd wife
w3=3rd wife
c1-children of lst wife
c2= children of 2nd wife
c3=children of 3rd wife.
 
William M. Masters w1 Sarah Lennington  w2 Ann Madison c1 Eb, Jake, Bill, c2 Paul.
 
Ellis Wells w Sis Wilfong
 
Samiel Black w1 Nancy Jane Rightnowar w2 Mary Emily Thompson c1 Henry, Rose, Amanda, 
c2 Bob, Wade, Martha.
 
John Robert Black w Martha Ann McRight f Samuel Black mMary E. Thompson, c Samuel, 
James,  Emma, Charley, Renee.
 
Joseph Pinckney Davis w1 Martha Black, w2 Ann Bean Masters, f Clinton Smith Davis,
m Susan (Suda) Wells, c1 Robert, Nelson, Finley, Richard, Laura, Rose, c2 Lutisha.
 
George Duff Wells, b 1854, w Lovina Rightnowar, b 1856, c James, Harve, Omer, 
Lewis, David, Adam, Eliza, Anna, Luela, Minnie, Meda, Veta.
 
Jim Roberts w1 ? hart, w2 ? Melton, w3 Laura Bravard King, c3 Martha, Albert, Letha,
Opal, Alva, Gale, Sherman, Ned, Clude, Lena.
 
Manville Modert w Louisa Ryder, c Alison W., Orley, Violet.
 
Frank Ryder w Mattie Brown, c Ferne, Harl.
 
Jake Masters w Luna Ford, c Eunice, Monroe, Ralph, Etta, Hobart, Shelby, Theodore, Inez,
Charles ARthur.
 
Alfred Dees w Mary Farris c Sarah, George, Dan, Perry, Wade, Joe and Lee.
 
Wes Mandrell w Sarah ? c Jim, Jerry.
 
Jerry Mandrell w Ellen Vinson, Wes m Sarah.
 
Carl Reed w Mary Mora c Elwin, Gersham, Carl Jr.
 
George Rightnowar w Jerusha Rose c Adam, Henry, Reasons, George, John, Elizabeth, Jerusha, 
Nancy, Jemima (Goss), Luna.
 
Adam Rightnowar b. 1824 w Ann Eliza Eleanor Howe f George Rightnowar m Jerusha Rose c 
Francis M.,
Elizabeth, Jerusha Ann, George V., Lovina, Eliza, Eleanor, Mary D., Adam D.
 
George W. Rightnowar b. 1856 w Sarah Mayberry f Adam m Ann Eliza Eleanor Howe, 
c one adopted Dona Lee (Sugg).
 
Adam Rightnowar (Little Ad) w Mary Susan Thompson c Nellie, Martha (matt), Amanda.
 
Henry Rightnowar b 1816, w Jane Hicks, b 1826 f George Rightnowar m Jerusha Rose, 
c Elizabeth, Samuel,George, Malissa, Thomas, Tobiatha, Elvira, Matthew, Mary Ann, James, 
Melvina, Amanda.
 
James Rightnowar, w Mahalia Troutt f Henry m. Jane Hicks, c Benjamin, Otis, America, 
Luna, Nancy, Anna.
 
Francis Rightnowar b 1950 w Harriet Giles, f Adam R, m Anna E. E. Howe, c Ira Nelson, 
Ora Stella, Samuel, Homer, Inez Mary, Adam F.
 
Russ Woods w Carrie Peterson, c Drusie, Susie, Nelson.
 
(Little Bill) Robinson w Lizzie Dial, c Acel, Otis, Ora, Ruth, Jennie.
 
Frank Danner w Eva Wheelhouse c Helen.
 
William Hamilton w Belle Smith, c Orpha, Myrtle.
 
George Bean w Amanda Rightnowar f Pete Bean m ? Laney, c Gerald, Alex, Mabel, Sadie, Daisy.
 
Pete Bean w 1 Jane Thompson, w2 ? Laney, w3 Susie Vaughn,c1 Lee, Sally, Adam, w2 George.
 
Ad Bean w Sarah Dees f Pete Bean, m Jane Thompson, c Frank Stanton, Ethel, Ferne, 
Maida, Lily, Myrtle.
 
Will Bean w Clamenzie Thompson, c King, Zada, Connie, Cynthia, Martha, Kath, Ann and 
Granddaughter Mary Lennington.
 
John Rutherford b. 1856 w Elizabeth Rightnowar, c Adam, Houston, Francis, Florence.
 
Francis Rightnowar w Emma Hamilton, f John, m Elizabeth Rightnowar, c Ralph, Alma, Thelma.
 
Wm. B. Rutherford, b 1861 w Mary Rightnowar, c Charles, Edith, Orlie, George, Willie.
 
Adam Rutherford w, Gertie Reed, C Harold, Claud, Norine.
 
Lloyd Rutherford w Amanda Black raised nephew Charley Reynolds.
 
Jerry Mandrell b 1873 w Daisy Pierce, f James m. Jerusha Ann Rightnowar c Lela Maud, 
Harry Aldo, Nina Lorena.
 
Albert Schmidt, w Drusie Smith, c Wilbur, Louie, Anna.
 
Kie Earls, w Martha ?, c John, Belle.
 
Bill Lee, w ?, c John, Emma.
 
Louis Elliston, w Priscilla Cheek, c Myrtle, Bert, Kate, Elmer, Francis, Ida, Melvin, 
Hattie Tom, Alva,Elza.
 
Bennett Elliston w1 Emily Jane Green, w2 Samantha Pierce,  c1 Oliver c 2 Lora, Minnie, Rose.
 
E. R. (Raz) Elliston w1 Anna How, w2 Emma Tinkler, c1 Joe, Sam.
 
Jim Merriman, w Josie Cantrell c Ezra, Stella, Clara, Ed, Herman.
 
George Hicks, w Helen ?, f John, m Jerusha Rightnowar, c Simon, George, Nen, Mary, Eliza.
 
Jim Dennis, w Kath Bean, c Anna.
 
Bryce Gilbert, w Mary Ann Rightnowar, f Eli Gilbert, m. Lucy Fairchild, c David, 
Henry, Eli, Bill, Robert, Hiram, Bertha, Martha, Ella, Lucy, Ida, Jane.
 
John Vaughn, w Rose Mary Rightnowar, c Henry, Susan.
 
Henry Dennis, w Rand Gibbs, c John, George, Jim, Oliver, Eva, Blanche.
 
James Mandrell w Jerusha Ann Rightnowar, c Douglas (Newby), Frank, Charles, Edgar, 
Bill, Jerry, Laurada.
 
Dan King w Goss (Jemima) Rightnowar c Ellen, Oliver.
 
John Braden w Ellen King c?
 
Lee Dees w Sally Bean, f Alfred Dees, m. Marry Farris, c Herman, Bearon, Sadie, Vesta, 
Vetra, Tracy, Holly.
 
Philip Newell w Linda Henry, f Asa Blake Newell, m Peggy Osborne, c Maud, Claude, John D., 
Maggie.
 
Charley Hirons, w _____ Hicks.
 
_______ Plowman, w ________, c Willard.
 
Robert Gilbert, w Mary Lennington, f Bryce, m Mary Ann Rightnowar, c Harvey, Bryan, Beulah, 
Ruth, Gern, Sammy, Neal, Leonard, Alice, Gene.
 
Zed Reynolds, w Harriet Rutherford, f John Reynolds, m Mary Woods, c Jack, Charley, 
Laduski, Emma, Lovina.
 
John Lennington, w1 ? Bean, w2 ? Bushong, c1 Mary, cw Goss, Taylor, Lottie, Perry.
 
John Earls, w Emma Lee f Kie Earls, m Marth ?, c Earl, Emma, Richard, Maud Pearl, Susie, 
Flora, Johnnie, Verner.
 
Dan Troiutt, w, Minnie Elliston, c May, Maud.
 
Lorenzo Lacey, w Mary Rosenberger, f Benton, Lacey, m. Eliza McCulley, c Mildre, Benton, 
Quentin, Maxine, Katherine, John.
 
Sylvester Schafer w Caroline Robinson.
 
Thompson Lacey, w Nancy Reed, c America, Lou, Nellie, Emma, Bob, Fred, Charley, Logan.
 
George Muckelroy, w ? , c Renzo 1 daughter.
 
? Piercy, w ? Vincenz, c Kate.
 
Ed Schmidt, w Minnie Winesburg, c Eli.
 
Benton Lacey, w Eliza McCulley, c Renzo, Oliver, Gus, Hughey, Thomas, Laura, Myrtle, Isabella, Lily.
 
John Eater, w ___ McGill, c Homer, Jim, Minnie.
 
Ed Lacey, w Ella Hubbard, c Paul, Erwin, Irma, Majel.
 
Victor Rosenberger, w Mary Robinson, c Eliza, Laura, Mary Kate, Selma, Eugene, John.
 
Elias Ord, w ____, c Opal.
 
Sam Howe, w Rettie Bennett, c Mark, Jake, Arthur, Jewel, Paul, Wilbur, Jim, Albert, Cecil, 
Lily.
 
Jim Reed, w ___Lacey, c Frank, Carl, Ralph, Gertie, Mamie.
 
Preacher Davis, w ____Lacey.
 
Bill ( W. A. ) Robinson, w Hettie Troutt, c Bill, Gaylord.
 
Jim Perry w, ___ c Inez, Hollis.
 
John White w Louise ___, c Simon, Anna, Wilton, Russell.
 
I. N. Woods, w Lucy ___, c Margie (Howe)
 
Cal Jones, w __________, c Jim, Annie.
 
Sam Ferguson w Bertha.
 
Jim Hart w Effie McRight, c Al, Art, Alonzo, Lute, Sam, Orley, Dora.

Rightnowar School 1894
Numbered from Left to Right
  

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