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Note: James McCleery and two brothers came from Ireland to American in 1740; they were, however, born in Scotland. They settled in Lancaster County, PA. James McCleery died leaving two sons, James and Joseph. James came to Fairfield County in 1814, and died in 1826. His sons were James and William, who married in the Wells family, John and Joseph. The later married a daughter of an early pioneer of this county, John Shepler. Joseph reared a family of beautiful daughters; with but one exception, Mrs. Perry Teal, they are all dead. THe daughters of James McCleery were: Anna, wife of John Morgan, of Greenfield, Mrs. Morgan Rank, of Walnut Township, and Maria, wife of Abraham Hedges, of Hocking. Joseph McCleery, son of James, came to Fairfield County in 1820 and died here. He left a son, Joseph, who lived many years southwest of Lancaster, three miles. Mrs. Christian Niebling, a daughter, was born Aug. 1, 1795, and died in Kansas, March, 1885, aged 89 years. Mrs. Balser Rutter, was a daughter of Joseph McCleery. Both daughters have many descendants in Ohio and Western States. Pioneer Period and Pioneer People of Fairfield County, Ohio, pg. 280 and 281. http://archive.org/details/pioneerperiodpio00wise Author: Wiseman, C. M. L. (Charles Milton Lewis), 1829-1904 Publisher: Columbus, O., F. J. Heer printing co. Possible copyright status: NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT Language: English Call number: 8194872 Digitizing sponsor: Sloan Foundation Book contributor: The Library of Congress Collection: library_of_congress; americana Robert and Mary were in the 1870 census of Canton Twp., Fulton County, IL and were 78 and 72 years old. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cenfiles/il/fulton/1870/pg0375a.txt Birth: Nov. 23, 1797 Pennsylvania, USA Death: Aug. 22, 1876 Fulton County Illinois, USA [Edit Dates] wife of Robert Taylor, Lot 450, Div. A Burial: [Edit] Greenwood Cemetery Canton Fulton County Illinois, USA Plot: Lot 450, Div. A [Edit Plot] Created by: busybee1952 Record added: Apr 04, 2010 Find A Grave Memorial# 50640890 "United States Census, 1850," Harriet Mcclary in household of James Mcclary, Buckheart, Fulton, Illinois, United States �C Back to search results View image Save image Search collection About this collection name:�Ctab�DHarriet Mcclary event:�Ctab�DCensus event date:�Ctab�D1850 event place:�Ctab�DBuckheart, Fulton, Illinois, United States gender:�Ctab�DFemale age:�Ctab�D22 marital status:�Ctab�D race (original):�Ctab�D race (expanded):�Ctab�D birthplace:�Ctab�DIllinois estimated birth year:�Ctab�D1828 dwelling house number:�Ctab�D33 family number:�Ctab�D35 line number:�Ctab�D37 nara publication number:�Ctab�DM432 nara roll number:�Ctab�D107 film number:�Ctab�D7680 digital folder number:�Ctab�D004193356 image number:�Ctab�D00501 �Ctab�DHousehold�Ctab�DGender�Ctab�DAge�Ctab�DBirthplace James Mcclary�Ctab�DM�Ctab�D49�Ctab�D Ohio Sophia Mcclary�Ctab�DF�Ctab�D44�Ctab�D Kentucky Harriet Mcclary�Ctab�DF�Ctab�D22�Ctab�D Illinois John Mcclary�Ctab�DM�Ctab�D21�Ctab�D Illinois Elizabeth Mcclary�Ctab�DF�Ctab�D19�Ctab�D Illinois Ralph Mcclary�Ctab�DM�Ctab�D17�Ctab�D Illinois Maryann Mcclary�Ctab�DF�Ctab�D15�Ctab�D Illinois Isabell Mcclary�Ctab�DF�Ctab�D13�Ctab�D Illinois, Isabell married Peter M. Binnex, May 13, 1858 Angeline Mcclary�Ctab�DF�Ctab�D9�Ctab�D Illinois Sarah Mcclary�Ctab�DF�Ctab�D7�Ctab�D Illinois Edwin Mcclary�Ctab�DM�Ctab�D2�Ctab�D Illinois Source Citation "United States Census, 1850," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M85R-S3B : accessed 03 Aug 2012), Harriet Mcclary in household of James Mcclary, Buckheart, Fulton, Illinois, United States; citing dwelling 33, family 35, NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 107. Mary could be related to the following: George S. and Elliott S. McCleary are profitably engaged in business as dairymen and farmers, and each has a well-stocked and finely equipped dairy farm in Nelson Township. These gentlemen are natives of Lawrence County, Pa., the first-mentioned born Feb. ruary 15, 1848. George McCleary's farming interests are centered on section 13, where he owns one hundred and thirty-eight acres of excellent farming land, that is finely adapted to stock-raising purposes, and is one of the best dairy farms of the neighborhood. It is stocked to its fullest capacity with cattle of good breeds, and for the past two years Mr. MeCleary has kept a herd of thirty dairy cows and by his able management has made this branch of agriculture a paying business. He and his brother came to this county with their parents and other members of the family in the spring of 1865 and have since been numbered among its most desirable citizens. He spent the first eighteen months after his arrival iii Dixon Township, and since then has been a resident of Nelson Township, becoming the owner of his present farm in 1876. The marriage of George McCleary with Miss Mary A. Alcorn was solemnized in his native county. She was also a Pennsylvanian by birth, born in Beaver County, in 1855, and was ten years old when her parents, Henry and Catherine (Baker) Alcorn, removed to Lawrence County, where they now live retired, having formerly been engaged in farming. May 29, 1889, death crossed the threshold of the home of our subject and took from him his beloved wife, who had filled in a perfect measure her position as daughter, wife and mother, and was truly a home-maker. She was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and her Christian spirit was evinced in her daily life. Four children were born of her marriage with our subject, all of whom arc with him and are named as follows: Edna, Iva P., Charles N. and Frances C. Elliott S. McClearv has won a fine reputation as a farmer of much ability, who employs modern methods in conducting his operations, keeps his farm up to a high standard in point of cultivation and improvement, and is raising first-class stock. His homestead lies on sections 12 and 13, Nelson Township, and here he and his family live very pleasantly. He gives much attention to the dairy business and has thirty-five cows of the finest breed for that purpose, which net him a good yearly income. He has found in his wife, formerly Miss Melinda Gruver, a capable coadjutor in the making of a home. Their marriage was celebrated in Nelson Township, where Mrs. McCleary was reared and educated, coming here with her parents when a child. She, like her husband, is a native of Pennsylvania, born in Columbia County in 1853. and is a daughter of Ujinli Gruver, a wealthy farmer, living in Dixon. Our subjects are sons of William MeCleary, who was a native of the same Pennsylvania county in which they were born. He in turn was a son of Samuel McCleary, who was a native of the North of Ireland, and came to this country when he was twelve years old, with his parents, who were of Scotch-Irish stock. The fnmily first settled in Westmoreland County, Pa., and when Samuel was a young man removed from there to what is now New Castle, the county seat of Lawrence County, that city now being built upon the farm that the grandfather of our subjects developed from the dense growth of primeval forest that then prevailed in that section of the country. Samuel Mc- Cleary spent his remaining das in the home that he made there, dying at the age of fifty-six. He was prominent in promoting the growth of New Castle and lived to see it a flourishing town. He was one of its pioneer merchants and one of its principal business men in his day. Besides running a mercantile establishment he did an extensive business as a drover, taking stock to Philadelphia, and with the proceeds of the sales buying goods to sell at home. Tie and his wife were great workers in church matters, and they helped to organize the Presbyterian Church in their town. Samuel MeCleary was married in New Castle to Nancy Gorderi, who was born on the Atlantic Ocean when her parents were emigrating to this country from their ancestral home in Scotland. They were a branch of the celebrated Gorden family so well known in the history of Scotland. They settled first in Westmoreland County, Pa., after their arrival in America, and thence removed to Mercer County in the early days of its settlement, and were pioneers of the country around New Castle, where they hewed out a farm from the wilderness. Some of them served as privates in the War of 1812. They were stanch Presbyterians in religion and were Whigs in polities, while the old stock of McClearys were Democrats. Mrs. Samuel MeCloarv survived her husband many years and died during the Rebellion when nearly eighty years of age. She was a large woman, of fine physique, and retained her bodily and mental faculties to the last. William MeCleary, as the eldest of ten children. looked after the large farm, owned by his father, after he attained manhood. He was married in New Castle to Miss Selinda Moorehead, who was born and reared at that place, her parents, who were of Pennsylvania birth and of Scotch-Irish blood, having been early settlers of Lawrence County, moving there from Westmoreland county. Mr. and Mrs. MeCleary lived in New Castle many years after their marriage, all of there all of their children were born. In 1865 they came to Illiiiois and established a new home in Lee County, in which the father passed the rest of his days. He died in the fall of 1880, at the age of sixty-seven, leaving behind him the record of a well-filled life and the legacy of a good name, which his children and children's children hold in reverence. He was an active member of the Presbyterian Church and was deeply interested in every movement for the moral uplifting of the community. In politics he was thoroughly in sympathy with the Democratic party. His wife, who survives him and makes her home with her children, was born June 30, 1816, yet old age has not dimmed her faculties. She is a noble Christian woman and is a member of the Presbyterian Church. Of the seven daughters and two sons born to the McClearys, one daughter and two sons are now dead. James enlisted in October, 1861, in Company B, of the famous Cooper's Battery, in the First Pennsylvanoa Artillery, and fell while bravely fighting for his country at the battle of Gettysburg; John C., the eldest son,a farmer in Palmyra Township, married Mary Gruver, of Nelson; Mary is the wife of Jerry Hetler, a farmer of Dixon Township; George S. is the third son of the family; Kate, now deceased, was the former wife of D. C. Harden, of whom a biography appears in this work; William, a farmer in Carroll County, married Ainanda Mason; Elliott S. is the next in order of birth; Joseph, who married Ida Long, is a member of the firm of McCleary & Long, boot and shoe merchants of Dixon. All the brothers are very successful in business. All but two of them are Presbyterians, and all of them are stalwart Democrats in politics. Portraits and Biographical Lee County IL
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Note: (Research):July 9, 1832. Died at his former residence in Earl Township, Lancaster County, PA., John McCleary, in his 86th year. October 23,1826. Died-James McCleery, aged 69 years, at his residence in Greenfield Township, 3 Miles north of Lancaster, Ohio, on the old Columbus road. He was a native of Lancaster, PA. November 6, 1827, Married on Thursday last, by Rev. John Wright, Mr. Abram Hedges to Miss Alice McCleery, all of this county. December 10, 1833. Married at Lancaster, PA. on the 8th inst. by the Rev. S. Bowman, Mr. Carpenter McCleery, printer, formerly of this place, to Miss Catherine S. Danner of that city. Infant son of William and Nancy McCleery, died Aug. 31, 1846. Priscilla, wife of William McCleery, died May 30, 1844, aged 88 (or 38) years, 4 mo. 21 days. All above from Ohio Genealogical Quarterly, Ohio Source Book McCLEERY - Searching for the name of the first wife of James McCLEERY of EARL TWP, Lancaster Co., Pa. James died abt 1814 in Earl Twp. His wife is named Alice in his will but she is believed to be Alice McGREW who he married 21 June 1769 in Lancaster, PA. well after the birth of his son, James who was born abt 1757 in Lancaster County and died November 1826 in Fairfield Co., Ohio. James the son married his first cousin, Jane Jannet McCLEERY, 10 Jan 1786 at Trinity Lutheran Church, Lancaster, Pa. Jane Jannet was the daughter of Joseph McCLEERY also of Earl Twp. Jane was born 6 Mar 1762 and died 20 Aug 1862 in Fairfield County, Ohio. Terry L. McAfee <tlmtocsin@aol.com> Fairfax, VA USA - Friday, February 14, 1997 at 10:27:51 (EST) Home: Regional: U.S. States: Illinois: Edwards County Post FollowupReturn to Message ListingsPrint Message Re: John McClary 1820 Posted by: David Rigg �Ctab�DDate: August 07, 2000 at 18:47:06 In Reply to: John McClary 1820 by Dwight �Ctab�Dof 269 On the surface, this sounds like the John McCleary who settled McCleary's Bluff in 1816. There is a state historical monument on the property, which is located in what is now Wabash Co., IL. (It was part of Edwards Co. in 1820.) At the time of the monument dedication, there was a fairly extensive newspaper article about the families who settled there. If this is the same person you are looking for, he was born 19 Apr 1767 in New York and died 1 Aug 1837 in Wabash Co., IL. He married Margaret Glenn, who was born 19 Feb 1775 in Pennsylvania and died 18 Apr 1844 in Wabash Co., IL. They had eight children who lived to adulthood and married. Most of these were born in Ohio. The youngest, Julia Ann McCleary, was born in Knox Co., IN. The children were: Isabella CARLTON, Mary TAYLOR, James MCCLEARY, John MCCLEARY, Betsy RIGG, Margaret TRUSCOTT, Sarah PHAR, Julia BAIRD. If you are working on any of these lines, I would be glad to exchange information. Followups: Re: John McClary 1820 Dwight 8/14/00 http://www.archive.org/stream/historyoffrankli00bate/historyoffrankli00bate_djvu.txt GEORGE W. McCLEARY, farmer, P. O. Mont Alto. The McCleary family trace their ancestry to Scotland, from which country they came to Pennsylvania prior to the Revolution, and about 1770 two brothers located in what is now known as Quincy Township, where several of their descendants yet remain. John McCleary, so far as is known, was the pioneer of the name that came to this country. His direct descendants were Alexander, W r illiam, Rob- ert and John; the daughters, so far as remembered, being Mary, Nancy and Katie. John, mentioned above, the father of Geo. W., married Nancy, the daughter of James McCoy, and was engaged in agricultural pursuits, which business he carried on the greater part of his life. He was a good citizen, highly esteemed in the community in which he lived, and was never known to sue or be sued, or have a case in court. He died in 1873 at the advanced age of eighty-three years, a consistent Christian. In politics he was Democratic. Our subject was born in this township January 20, 1840, and his father being engaged in farming pursuits, was brought up in the same line of business, which he has since followed continuously, except for about three years,* 1 during which he engaged in mercantile business at Alto Dale with C. H. Smith. Politically he has always been a stanch Democrat, and in addition to filling township offices of trust, was urged as a candidate by his party to head the ticket as sheriff at the fall election of 1880. In 1801 he married Caroline, only child of Jacob Knepper, one of the old residents of the county. He is a member of the Reformed Church, also of the K. of P. Re: John McClary 1820 Posted by: David Rigg�Ctab�DDate: August 07, 2000 at 18:47:06 In Reply to: John McClary 1820 by Dwight�Ctab�D of 296 On the surface, this sounds like the John McCleary who settled McCleary's Bluff in 1816. There is a state historical monument on the property, which is located in what is now Wabash Co., IL. (It was part of Edwards Co. in 1820.) At the time of the monument dedication, there was a fairly extensive newspaper article about the families who settled there. If this is the same person you are looking for, he was born 19 Apr 1767 in New York and died 1 Aug 1837 in Wabash Co., IL. He married Margaret Glenn, who was born 19 Feb 1775 in Pennsylvania and died 18 Apr 1844 in Wabash Co., IL. They had eight children who lived to adulthood and married. Most of these were born in Ohio. The youngest, Julia Ann McCleary, was born in Knox Co., IN. The children were: Isabella CARLTON, Mary TAYLOR, James MCCLEARY, John MCCLEARY, Betsy RIGG, Margaret TRUSCOTT, Sarah PHAR, Julia BAIRD. If you are working on any of these lines, I would be glad to exchange information. A RAMBLER'S NOTES Weekly Register, Canton, Illinois, January 3, 1907 In 1825 Mathew Tatum, then unmarried, with two companions, Squire Wilcoxen and Landrine Eggers, left Indiana for Illinois. When the little party reached Fulton county they found a wild country with but few white settlers, but Eggers and Wilcoxen after exploring the county, found suitable locations, erected cabins and became pioneers in the wilderness. Game then was the principal food and the red men had not left the country. Young Tatum, inspired by an ambition to see more of the Prairie state, pushed on to Galena, where he spent two or three years at the lead mines, returning to Fulton county in 1827 or 1828. In 1825 Fulton county extended east and west from the Illinois to the Mississippi river, and from the base line near where Rushville, Schuyler county, now stands, to the northern boundary of the state, and included the country where Rock Island, Galena, Peoria and Chicago now are. It was only a few years before Tatum and his two companions arrived in the county that the buffalo, deer, bear and wolf roamed through the forests and over the prairies, the Indian their enemy. Many Indians were still here in the late '20s and their log and bark canoes could often be seen gliding over the placid waters of the Illinois and Spoon rivers. But the westward tread of the Anglo-Saxon had reached the military tract and the country was soon wrested from those who had for centuries refused to develop its resources. When the fearless, industrious, enterprising pioneers came, the Indians, the buffalo, the deer and the wolf had to go. Dr. W. T. Davison was undoubtedly the first white man to make his home within the present boundaries of Fulton County, but John Eveland, who located at or just above the old pioneer of Waterford on Spoon river, in 1820, was the first actual white settler. Eveland lived on Spoon river but a few years when he moved to Buckheart township and built a cabin on what is now know as the Eveland branch, a small stream which flows into Big creek west of Bryant. In the spring of 1830 Mathew Tatum built a round log, one-room cabin on the northeast quarter of section seven, Buckheart township, near the source of the Eveland branch, and on the first day of August, 1830, was married to Mrs. Lydia Eggers - whose maiden name was Dollar. After living till fall on the T. J. Shepley place, they moved into this cabin. Only a few stones are left to mark the spot where it stood. Along about 1832 a one-room hewed-log house was built to shelter the family, and this is still standing and is one of the old pioneer landmarks of the county. It stands just north and a little west of the old original Tatum cabin, and is in a fair state of preservation when we take into consideration the fact that it has been standing for three-quarters of a century. The winter following the occupation of the old original cabin was the winter of the deep snow, which is so vividly remembered by the old settlers who are still living and who v/ere here at that time. It was the heaviest snow that ever fell in Illinois, so far as known by any one now living, or within the memory of the earliest pioneers. "It was after this snow," said the subject of this sketch, John G. Tatum (son of Mathew Tatum), "that many settlers accustomed to the advantages of an older civilization became dissatisfied and left the country never to return. I have often heard my parents speak of this great snowfall. Father's corn was up on the Shepley place, in Canton township, and had not been gathered in and cribbed and as the depth of the snow was a great barrier to all travel he had a pretty tough time going into the field and digging down until he came to ears enough to fill his sack, which he carried home on his back to feed his stock or to beat or grate into meal for family use. "The big snow found many of the settlers wholly unprepared for a long siege and there was a great deal of suffering. People were absolutely blockaded or (housed?) up and did not go out until starvation compelled them. "I was born in the hewed log cabin built, I think, in 1832 which is still standing about 100 yards south of our present residence, but which has not been occupied for several years. I lived in it several years alone and am the last occupant of the old home where I was born and reared to manhood and where my parents lived and died. "The date of my birth is Dec. 13, 1837. My father was a native of Rowan county, N. C., and my mother was born in Laurens county, S. C. Father was born Feb. 18, 1789, and died Sept 19, 1868. Mother, whose maiden name was Dollar, was born in 1803 and died Oct. 2, 1872. Her father William Dollar, was a native of Wales and her mother, Ruth (Beasley) Dollar, of Virginia. Grandfather Dollar served under Washington in the war of the revolution, for seven years. He died in Buckheart township, Sept. 6, 1838. The remains of my parents are interred in the Shields chapel cemetery. The names of the Tatum children are George W., born March 25, 1832, died in 1864; John Goforth, Mrs. Amy Cluts, and Mrs. Sarah Jane Shields. Mrs. Cluts and myself still reside on the old homestead but Mrs. Shields lives at Los Angeles, Calif. "I never married and we three are the only representatives of the Tatum family now living and when we pass away the name will become extinct. "The Rev. James Tatum, who was one of the pioneer preachers of the county, died in Hays, county, Kan.(sic) in 18_8 (1888?), aged 97 years. His wife and all the children are dead. "Politically, father was a Democrat. Both he and mother were members of the Regular Baptist church. "Uncle Jimmy Tatum was two years younger than father, was a large, powerfully built man, and although a little eccentric was an earnest preacher of pioneer days and was of a fervently religious turn of mind. He labored arduously in building up the early Regular Baptist churches of the county. His education was limited and he was compelled to perform severe manual labor to supply his family with the necessaries of life, yet he was a faithful, untiring, conscientious worker who went about doing good. His was a life well spent and afford lessons of zeal and Christian devotion under adverse circumstances, worthy of emulation of all believers. He helped to organize the Baptist church in the Eveland neighborhood in a very early day. "Father bought the old Tatum homestead from the patentee, a man named Bullard, paying $300 for it, or a little less than $2 an acre. It was wild land and save a small prairie on the west side, was covered with a heavy growth of timber. The men and women who remained after the winter of the deep snow and built homes in the forests and developed farms from the wilderness the men and women who endured the hardships and bore the disadvantages found in the early settling of the county were made of sterner stuff than the weaklings who became homesick and went back to the older states from whence they came. "Yes, I have heard my parents speak of the sudden change in January, 1836. The cold came on suddenly and was so intense that many people's noses, ears, fingers and toes were frozen. I have some recollection myself of the severe winter of 1843-8. The years 1844, 1851, 1858 and 1865 were notable as wet years, but after 1865 every seventh year ceased to be wet. "The 17-year locusts made their first appearance since I can recollect in 1844. They were very numerous that year and did considerable damage to young trees, etc. Seventeen years later, or in 1861, they again came, but not in such great numbers as in 1844. They came in 1878 and 1895 also and will come again in 1912. Their numbers seem to be gradually decreasing. "Oh, yes - I can recall the time when there was very little money in the country, and when father first came to the country most of the business was done by bartering one article for another. Coon skins passed as currency up to about the time I was born. "In an early day cotton was quite extensively grown in Fulton county and father raised a crop the first year after he was married. But the climate was not adapted to the raising of the tropical plant, and flax was substituted for cotton. "Neighborhood exchanges, as I stated before, were the earliest commercial transactions carried on in the county. Beeswax, honey, tallow and peltries(?) were among the earliest articles shipped by flatboat to St. Louis. Sometimes a few bushels of wheat or corn would be added. This was before the advent of steamboats on the Illinois river. "After the steamboats commenced to ply up and down the river a new system of commerce sprang up. Every town would contain one or two merchants who would buy corn, wheat and dressed hogs in the fall, store them in warehouses on the river at some of the landings and when navigation opened in the spring would ship the winter accumulations to St. Louis, New Orleans of Cincinnati for sale. "At first, so far as the farmer was concerned in all these transactions, money was an unknown factor. Goods were always sold on 12 months time and payment made with the proceeds of the farmers crops. Hogs were always sold ready dressed and from $1.50 to $2.50 was the price paid per hundredweight. "A farmer would call in his neighbors some bright fall or winter morning to help him kill hogs. Immense kettles filled with boiling hot water were emptied into a huge scalding hogshead or tub and the sleds of the farmers, covered with loose planks, formed a platform for dressing. When the work of killing was completed and hogs had time to cool such as were intended for domestic use were cut up and salted down in barrels or troughs and the surplus was hauled to market The farmers then were content to raise pork at the prices paid but such prices would not satisfy them now. "But very little of the land was under fence and stock of all kinds ran at large. A bell was put on one animal of each herd or drove of cattle, sheep or horses and every farmer knew the sound of his own bells. Bells that could be heard a long distance were the ones usually selected and we didn't have much trouble in locating our stock. The woods each fall were full of acorns, hickory nuts, walnuts and hazelnuts, and hogs would grow fat on them. "It is not generally known, but it is a fact nevertheless, that there was no bluegrass here in an early day. Stock lived mostly on the prairie or bluestem jointed grass which attained a very rank growth on the rich prairie soil or on the bottom land along the streams. "Another thing I wish to state: There were no rats in Illinois until along in the early '50s' and there were no red foxes here until after the close of the civil war. Gray foxes were quite plentiful but they have almost or entirely disappeared and the red foxes have taken their places. "Gray foxes are not long-distance runners and are easily caught in an hour's chase with a good pack of hounds. "Oh, yes there were wild hogs here since I can remember. Along in the spring of 1838 or 1839. I have heard my father say, the settlers set out en masse and caught and killed all wild hogs in Buckheart, (____?), Liverpool, Banner and Putman townships, and the following winter they were hunted and killed and the meat divided pro rata among the citizens. "I omitted to state that the severe winter of 1842-43 was one of the longest winters ever experienced since the county was settled by the whites. The cold weather set in the first part of November and lasted until the following April. "There was a wilderness of grass and flowers on the prairies here in pioneer times, and plenty of grass was found even in the timber. "(___?) Stillman and John Coleman are two of Canton's first pioneer business men whom I remember. When father first came here, and up to 1830, there were no regular dry goods stores in Canton. Up to that period goods were purchased either at Edwardsville or St. Louis. D. W. Vittum was also one of the pioneer business men of Canton and ran a sort of general store. "The country was full of game and while father was not a noted hunter he killed a deer or a turkey occasionally and our table was supplied a part of the time at least with wild meat The last deer killed in this neighborhood was in the winter of 1864 but hounds chased one across the country west of us in 1873. "Yes, I am one of the pioneer teachers of the county and was educated in the pioneer schools of the county, which were conducted in log houses provided with homemade furniture. The Tatum school house was an unhewn log building and stood a few feet west of the present brick school house. The logs were by no means straight and the roof was low and covered with clapboards kept in place by weight poles, holes were cut through the logs to admit a scanty supply of light. The seats had no backs and the writing desk was a board supported on slanting pins driven into one of the logs. One side of the room was occupied by an enormous old-fashioned fireplace. It was in this building that I learned the rudiments of the 'three R's,' John Spencer was my first teacher and Frank Hyatt, son of 'Squire' Henry Hyatt, was my second. Hyatt was a cripple and died when still a young man. Lawrence Slaughter and L. P. Rogers were both old time instructors. "Divine services used to be held in the old Tatum temple of learning and among the pioneer ministers who conducted services there were the Rev. Lawrence Eggers, the Rev. James Tatum, the Rev. John Spencer and the Rev. John Goforth. The old Pleasant Grove Methodist Episcopal church, which stood west of our place, near Civer, was sold and moved into the farm just north of us, which now belongs to Everly Brothers. The remains of many of the pioneers who were buried in the Pleasant Grove cemetery have been disinterred and buried in other cemeteries but some of them are still there. But as the land is now farmed their graves probably could not be located. "I taught my first school in 1839, I think, in the Tatum school house and my last school in 1874, was taught at the same place. During the years intervening I taught at Independence, at Science Hill and in other districts. Ira Porter, John Jameson, Arthur Stel, Mrs. Olive Harries, Charles McBroom, George Wilcoxen, Frank Moran and Thompson Laird, son of Samuel Laird of (_____?) township are some of my old scholars, I hold certificates from the following county superintendents of schools: Horatio J. Benton, William H. Haskell and Stephen Y. Thorton (________?) "I omitted to say that there were no pheasants in Fulton county until after I had reached manhood. "We took our grists at first to Jacob Ellis or Henry Hines' mill on big creek, but later went to Duncan's mill on Spoon river and to the James Eggers mill which was located where the village of London Mills now stands. "Some of the names of the early settlers whom I now recall were Robert Shields, 'Squire Henry Hyatt, George Putman, Ephrhim Reeves, Samuel Wilcoxen, John H. Martin, Samuel Turner, Thomas and (_______?) Moran, Major Joseph Herring, Nicholas McCreary, Joseph Crosthwait, Daniel Brown, Nathaniel Banks, John W. Shinn, J. H.___?), Thompson Maple, John G. Graham, Joel Wright, Samuel Culton, John G. Piper, John Culton and John Luckey. John Culton was a blacksmith and made the first plow I ever saw that would scour. It was the old diamond plow made all in one piece, that was first used in this section. "Canton, when I first knew it, was not the important business place, the city, it is today. "I was here long before the advent of railroads, was here when the county was almost in a primitive wild state and when deer, turkeys, wolves and all kinds of game were abundant In fact, I have grown up with the country, have lived to see Fulton county developed from a wilderness to a well-settled and wealthy section of the state. I assisted in clearing the old homestead and it is here that most of my uneventful life has been passed. I guess I might say that my life, in a great measure, corresponds with the development that has gone on about me. "I am a Democrat and cast my first presidential vote for Stephen A. Douglas in 1860. I have held the offices of supervisor and town clerk, and in the winter of 1882 kept the books for the E. J. Williams Coal company at St David. I have passed the time of active work but spend a part of my time in the garden and orchard. Mineralogy, I guess, is my fad, or hobby, and I have a pretty thorough knowledge of the science of minerals. "I was reared amid pioneer scenes and know something about the unremitting toil required to clear, plow and improve the land of Buckheart township. My sister, Mrs. Amy Cluts will tell you something about her early recollections and something more about the early history of Buckheart township and the Tatum family." John Goforth Tatum is one of the native pioneers of Buckheart township and one of the prominent factors in the growth and development of Fulton county, with which he has been closely identified since his boyhood. He is the oldest living representative of the Tatum family, is a close student, an intelligent citizen and has interested himself much in educational and scientific matters. He has never sought office, preferring the quiet and happiness of the peaceful fireside to the turmoil of public life. As stated before, he is a close student, is one of the men who find books in trees, sermons in stones, music in the running brooks, and good in everything. He has had a large experience as a teacher, is well endowed mentally, possesses a firm character and high principles, and is an influence for good in his community, whence all the years of his life have been spent. Perhaps no man now living in Buckheart township has been more intimately connected with its history and progress than John G. Tatum, and no family stands higher in the annals of this region than that of which he is a worthy representative. The life sketch of Mrs. Arm Gluts who remembers much regarding the early days in Fulton county and the pioneer life in which she bore a part will be published later, together with additional reminiscences and history of the Tatum family. [Submitted by Don Tharp] A RAMBLER'S NOTES Canton Weekly Register, Canton, Illinois, January 10, 1907 In speaking of the early settlers of Fulton county, some time ago, Samuel Laird, a Joshua Township pioneer said, in substance, that they were a strong, rugged, warm-hearted people and that they kept everlastingly at their jobs of building new homes and developing the country. "The men" he observed "were whole men with bark on, and women were full-blooded, strong and courageous and were well qualified for the arduous duties they were compelled to perform. They endured with their husbands all the hardships and labors of frontier life, without a mummer. They had their trails, misfortune, adventures and privations, but they were made of the right kind of stuff and bore all uncomplainingly. While the pioneers were hardy and brave. They had much to contend with, and no doubt many were the dark foreboding that crept into their minds as they contemplated their situation in a vast wilderness surrounded by wild animals and wild men. The Indians were still here when many of them came in the "20's" and some of them participated in the Black Hawk war in 1831-2. In their rude cabins they lived along the streams and in the belts of timber, with the chilling winds of winter sweeping down upon them. Often their food supply was limited and in the fall of the year many of them were afflicted with the chills and fevers, but they lived with through it all and where they found a wilderness we see today large, well-cultivated, productive farms, beautiful grounds, cities, towns, schools, churches and colleges. There is not a trace of the hunting grounds and camping places of,the Indians left, but in every direction are evidences of wealth, comfort and luxury. "The change that are written on every hand are most wonderful." said Mrs. Amy (Tatum) Cluts, of Buckheart township, whose life record is presented this week. "The cabin built by my father, in 1832, is all that is left of the old landmarks on the farm to remained us of the days of long ago. It is a sort of link connecting the past with the present. My father, Matthew Tatum, was a pioneer and came here when the wild whoop of the Indian rent the air and the howl of wolf were still heard in the land. And only think of it! A little over 50 years ago people lived in log huts, wore homespun clothing (which they manufactured, cut and made themselves). The country was wild and but sparsely settled. Now look about you and see how great the transformation. By incessant toil the pioneers and their children have made this country great. The men and women who went through the experience of pioneer life may have had old-fogy ideas and old-fogy ways, but they have changed our wild land into productive and fruitful fields and gardens and have peopled every section of the country with an intelligent and enterprising class of citizens. "I, am the daughter of a pioneer and can recall the time when children were destitute of shoes until Christmas, and some of them all winter. We children had no clothes except what was carded, spun, woven and made into garments by our own hands. "Churches, at first, we had none. "Many families were afflicted with sickness incident to all new counties. "We had, when I was a girl, few of the luxuries of life and some people lived for weeks upon hominy and venison when father first settled on this place. "I was born in the cabin which still stands on the old Tatum homestead, on the twenty-ninth day of March 1840 and am the daughter of Matthew and Lydia Tatum and I am a sister of John G Tatum, who lives here with me. I was reared to womanhood right here on this farm and have been a resident of Fulton county all my life-nearly 67 years. For my parental history the readers is referred to the sketch of John G. Tatum published in last weeks Register. I have not witnessed the entire growth and development of this section of the county, but I have witnessed much of it. My girlhood was passed in attendance at the pioneer school and in assisting my mother in household duties. I remember that Thomas Kirkpatrick taught several terms of school at the old Tatum school house. Harriet McCleary, Harvey Montanys, Margaret, Mary J. and Samuel Taylor were all old time teachers. I was a regular attendant at school and some of my old schoolmates who still survive are Mrs. Elise Putman, Frank Moran, James and John McCreary and my sister Mrs Sarah J. Shields, of Los Angeles, Calif. "Oh, yes, we have lived to see a flourishing and prosperous community of people where my parents found a wilderness. We were comfortable housed for years in that old cabin down there. I can recall the time when the country was in a wild condition and showed but little indication of its present advanced state of development. I have often heard my parents speak of the first cabin erected on their place in 1830. A part of the chimney of this hut was made of earth and sticks and the floor of puncheons. "When I was a school girl deer, wild turkeys and other game roamed at will across the thinly settled country. My girlhood and youth were passed amid primeval surroundings and snakes of different kinds were a common sight. On the Thompson Laird place, southeast of us 274 rattlesnakes were dug from one den and killed and near the south bridge over Big creek as you go into Canton over 300 rattlers were killed in one day. The prairie grass was very thick and tall and dense forest surrounded our cabin home. "Both my father and my Uncle James Tatum were both adapted for pioneer life, being large, muscular men with powerful frames. When a mere girl I was initiated into the hard labors of pioneer life, for we all had to work. We were compelled to put up with numerous inconvenience, but finally surrounded ourselves with many of the comforts of life. I have a vivid recollection of those old, old days and of the wild conditions of Buckheart township. "Linsey gowns were worn for every day, but calico dresses were worn on Sunday. We dressed more comfortable after the Culton-Piper fulling mill was built in Canton. Here is a coverlet woven by my grandmother Ruth Dollar, over 100 years ago. It is all wool an is kept as a family relic. "Yes, I have eaten cornbread, hominy and wild meat and honey. We used honey the year round. I have cooked by the old time fireplace but my parents purchased a cookstove when I was 10 or 12 years old - the first used in our neighborhood. "We made butter to sell, as far back as I can remember and the price we receive for it in early times were from eight to 12 l/2 cents a pound, in trade. Good cows were only worth from $8 to $10. "Many girls in pioneer times performed outdoor work and some of them could swing an ax with ease of a veteran lumberman. "As I stated before, I was born in a cabin and the old Tatum school house which I first attended was a log building with slab benches an other primitive furnishings: but as I grew older a better building was erected and the facilities for instruction were greatly improved. "I remained with my parents until I was 17 years of age, when I married W. H. Cluts, of Putman township, the Rev John Waggoner officiating. The date of my marriage was Jan. 22, 1857. The Rev John Waggoner was a minister of the United Brethren church, employed on this circuit. After marriage we located in Knox county, where we spent the first summer. In the fall we returned to Fulton county and lived awhile on the Cyrus Libby place. Later we moved on the Peabody farm which we rented from the Hon. Oilver Shepley. There we lived for four years. Finally we settled on the old Tatum homestead and lived for a time in the cabin in which I was born. In 1863 we built the house in which I now live. We lived on this place until 1868, when we moved below Cuba where my husband operated a saw mill until 1872, when we moved back on the old homestead and I have been here ever since. My husband died in 1893 and his remains are buried in the Shields chapel cemetery. "The Cluts family came from Pennsylvania to Fulton county in the early '50's. My late husband was a brother of Benjamin Cluts, of Cuba. "I am the mother of 13 children, 10 of whom are living: George Cluts makes his home here with me. Clinton Cluts is deceased. Andrew Cluts is deceased. Elijah Cluts is a veterinary surgeon at Canton. John Cluts is a resident of Canton. Mrs. Nellie S. Ward is deceased. James and Jasper Cluts reside in Canton. Mrs. Eva Turner lives in Canton. Joseph Cluts is in Selma, Ala. Charles Cluts is on a farm in Buckheart township. Mrs. Beda Jameson also resides on farm in Buckheart township. Grover Cluts, the baby is at home. I have 15 grandchildren, five boys and 10 girls. "I have attended meetings in log buildings and have been a member of the United Brethren Church since I was 12 years old. "In the fall of the year, here in an early day, many people were afflicted with the ague and in many cases the old pioneer mothers doctored or treated their own children. Boneset and pennroyal tea were some of the simple remedies they used. After you recovered from a chill you felt languid, stupid and sore, and you didn't care much wether you lived or died. "My husband hunted some and has killed both deer and turkeys. I remember seeing deer, turkeys and wolves and hearing latter howl at night. Just before the circular wolf hunt or round up at Overman's mound, a report was circulated that a boy had been torn to pieces by a wolf over on Spoon river. This story was circulated, evidently, to get the farmers to turn out and join the hunt. Fully 50 men passed our place that day. The timber northwest of us was called Wolf Grove. In that grove some of our folks caught a wolf in a trap once. "The Rev. Mr. Dark and the Rev James Tatum were both pioneers and both Regular Baptist preachers. "There was but very little money in circulation when I was a girl. Father had a long money sack and he put every dollar he got into it and kept it until taxpaying time. Sometimes he would spend a little for postage on letters that came from the older states. "Postage on letters was not prepaid then as it is now. "We had to pay cash for cotton yarn, which was used as the chain for woolen cloth. Mother sometimes used woolen chain but cotton chain was preferable. We raised our own madder and indigo, made our own soap and dyed our own garments. "James Cluts, who died on the Captain Haacke farm, in Putman township, was the father of my husband and Benjamin Cluts. While he came originally from Pennsylvania, he came from Ohio to Illinois. "In weaving linsey the chain used was linen and filling wool. In spite of the wolves, we succeeded in raising sheep and manufactured our own woolen cloth. Nearly all the cloth in outer garments worn by the men was homemade brown or blue jeans. If occasionally a young man appeared in a suit of "store clothes" he was suspected of having gotten it for particular occasion which occurs in the life of nearly every man. "Wheat bread did not become a common article of food until about the time I was married. It's true some families used it earlier, and it was used by all on extra occasions, as when the minister called or on Sundays when your friends came to visit you. "Store coffee", even during the war was not general used for simple reason that it could not be had at all times. Rye in some families was substituted for coffee. "The plain, homemade furniture of the pioneer cabin was as primitive as the occupants, but the traveler always found a welcome in those rude homes. The pioneer was not only liberal to his neighbors but would divide his Last corn pone with a stranger, giving the latter the larger half. An opportunity to aid a needy or sick neighbor was never neglected. "Our school houses were rude and the information imparted in them was somewhat meager but some of the old-time teachers were graduates of eastern colleges and possessed advanced ideas on many subjects. "There were no railroads in the county until about the time I was married and the highways of travel were rough and at times almost impossible. Rude "corduroy" roads were built over the soft, marshy places and we managed to do what little hauling we had, in one way or another. "The removal of my father from Indiana was made with teams and the greater part or all of the way lay through a wilderness. There were but few families in Fulton county when he first came here in 1825 and the Indians still lingered around their old hunting grounds on the Illinois and Spoon Rivers. "The women in pioneer days worked as well as the men, and carding, knitting, spinning and even weaving were common household duties. The unremitting care for her household of the pioneer mother was something wonderful, and just how she accomplished what she did is beyond the comprehension of the women of the present day. All, or greater part of the fabric to clothe her family was constructed by her own hands. The great and the small spinning wheels seem before me now as in girlhood, and I seem to hear their music late at night as in the days of yore. Often have I dropped off to sleep at 10 and 11 o'clock at night with the music of those wheels ringing in my ears, and it seem to me that mother's feet could never get weary. The loom was not less necessary than the wheel, but not every house in which spinning was done had a loom. But there were always some in each settlement who, besides doing their own weaving, did some for others. Wool was carded and made into rolls with hand cards and the rolls were spun into thread on the big "big wheel" as we called it. Besides looking after the household duties, carding, knitting, spinning and weaving, many of the pioneer women of Fulton county assisted their husbands in clearing up the land and putting it under tillage. In other words, some of the wives of the early settlers of the county helped their husbands perform outdoor work during the day and did their knitting, spinning and even weaving after night.There was no eight-hour law then, nor did 10 hours constitute a day's work. Many women rose at 4 o'clock in the morning and worked till 11 o'clock at night. "But their toils and privations were not a series of unmitigated sufferings. If both the fathers and mothers worked hard, they had seasons of relaxation, their seasons of enjoyment. They contrived to do something to break the monotony of their daily life. Log-rolling, house raising, quilting bees and corn-husking were among the amusements common in pioneer times and were greatly enjoyed by both men and women. What we possessed we obtained by the hardest of labor and individual exertion, but we enjoyed life as well as people do now, or better. "My house is here on the old homestead where the days of my childhood, the happiest days of my life, have been spent. I have tried to attend properly to the duties found in each line of my work, and have not lived alone for myself but for others. I have tried to be a benefit to the community in which I have lived so long and have always been willing to help in forwarding its best interests." Mrs. Cluts is zealous in all good works to promote the religions and social welfare of her neighborhood. She and her deceased mother have administered to the afflicted here in pioneer times. Doing all they could to allay their distress and have tenderly assisted in the burial of the dead. They witnessed many sad scenes with aching hearts. She has been a hard working women. Is exceedingly popular in her old home township and in the community generally, and, possessing many of the comforts of life, watches the years as they glide swiftly by, rounding out her well spent life. [Note: This is Amy Cluts, sister of John Tatum, it gives a woman's perspective of early days in Fulton county. submitted by Don Tharp] Henry H. Hartough Trip to Illinois The Trenton Times, Trenton, NJ, Wednesday, July, 27, 1897 A TIRESOME TRIP A Journey from Trenton to Illinois, Fifty-Four Years Ago. STORY OF H. H. HARTOUGH. He is a now a Visitor in This City and Tells A "Times" Reporter of His Interesting Experiences This Morning-It Took Him Two Months and Five Days to Reach His Destination-Life in the West. Mr. Henry H. Hartough, of Fairview, Ill., is the guest of his cousin, Mrs. Jane Stryker, of No. 513 Princeton avenue. Mr. Hartough is 75 years of age and has been in the West (or middle as it now is) for 54 years. He is still strong and vigerous, however, and can tell some interesting stories of the time when he left Trenton with his team and wagon and journeyed for two months and five days before reaching his destination in the fertile part of Illinois known as the "military tract." The Delaware and Raritan Canal was almost completed at the time he left his childhood's home, near Griggstown, Somerset county and before he started for the West Mr. Hartough had one ride on a canal boat. The Pennsylvania Railroad then ran as far as Harrisburg and the first night of the westward journey was spent in Trenton near the Five Points. Mr. Hartough told a Times reporter this morning how he slept in his wagon night after night while on the journey, having no regular bed, until he reached his destination at Fairview, which was then a town having just six houses and but one room plastered in all the six. Being a mason by trade he set to work and built a house, worked at his trade for awhile and later on bought quite a tract of prairie land and went to farming. He said that he had never used any fertilizer and had gathered a good crop every year. Mr. Hartough now has three sons and two daughters, all of whom have settled in Illinois, and one of whom recently got a crop of 76 1/2 bushels of oats to the acre off the old farm. He says that the land is so fertile in that part of the State that a man does not dare to fertilize his crops lest they grow too big, so that the storms beat them down and the whole is lost. Fairview, he said, now has about 500 homes and all the country around is [teeming?] with civilization. The improvements in the East he says have been wonderful, but nothing in comparison to those of the West. [Submitted by Jan Foster]
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