977.372
AL56p
Etta Mae Allison.
Pioneers of Coles County Illinois.
(1942)
Hollinger Corp.
pH 8.5
1^^"^
Pioneers of
Coles County
ILLINOIS
Published January, 1942
Written by Etta Mae Allison
t4^
"PIONEERS OF COLES
COUNTY"
PART I.
When David Dryden started to
Illinois from Farmington, Bedford
County, Tennessee, he put my
grandmother, Hannah Eveline Dry-
den on one of the horses, not
hitched to the covered vv'agon, to
help drive the cattle they were
bringing to a new and strange
country they had never seen be-
fore.
This was June 10, 1834 and when
my grandmother v^'as 98 years old,
she told the story of their j:>urney
northward as follows:
"Ninety-eight years ago my folks
and myself lived in Bedford Coun-
ty, Tennessee, near a small town
called Farmington which consisted
of a few houses, a small store, sad-
dler's shop and my father had a
blacksmith's shop.
"Farmington was situated on a
small branch fed by a monstrous
spring. The spring was 20 feet
across and was on a slope. The
water boiled up continually in the
middle and poured over the side
making a stream of water large
enough to run a water mill for
grinding grain one-half mile be-
low the spring. The water from
this spring was very cold and every
one in the village went there to get
drinking water.
"We lived eight miles from Shel-
byville, Tenn., and 18 miles from
Nashville, the capital, but I was
never in either place for children
stayed at home then instead of go-
ing with their elders as they do
now. We had no stores to go to
and buy everything we wanted as
we do now. Almost everything was
hand made, such as plows, shears,
nails, ix)ts, pans, harness, saddles,
in fact a hardvvare store wasn't
thought of and there wasn't much
money in the country those days.
"I was born June 7, 1822, and
in 1827 we moved to a small farm
on the banks of a creek called
Sugar Creek. My father built a mill
and blacksmith's shop and done all
the blacksmithing for the people
for miles around.
"When I was old enough I was
sent to school and went until I was
12 years old. My first teacher was
Amos Balch who served in the
Revolutionary War.
"In school we had no seats or
desks — only rude boards with pegs
driven in them which served as
seats and desks both.
■'After my father got his shop
fixed up, my younger brother Bill
was called 'Billy Nail, the Shoe
Toter' because he carried nails and
shoes for my father to shoe horses.
"The country was beautiful
around Sugar Creek. Ti-ess and
bushes grew everywhere. Wolves
were plentiful and it was almost
daily we saw deer running awa^'
through the trees.
"We children never were remem-
bered with presents at Christmas,
but if it snowed we thought it the
best present of all for it very, very
seldom ever snowed. We would
often go down to the creek to play,
taking the baby and setting it in
the sand while we dug wells and
waded in the water. If we got our
clothes wet we got a good spanking
when we returned to the house.
"When the great slave question
arose, my father did not know what
to do for he did not believe in
owning slaves. Our closest neigh-
bors owned slaves and sometimes
my father would hire a ne^ro boy
to help with the work. Sometimes
when the work was done this negro
boy and my older brother, Nat,
would build a huge bonfire in front
of the house and with all of us
sitting aorund this negro boy would
tell ghost stories.
in
'.- i
"Finally, land became so high and
the slavery question so hot, my
father decided to move to the new-
state of Illinois, where land could
be entered for $1.25 per acre.
"About a year after we began to
start planning to go north, we broke
up our home and began our long
journey June 10, 1834. There were
father, mother, four sisters, five
brothers and myself. We had two
teams of oxen, four horses and 40
head of cattle, our bedding and
several cooking utensils. We came
through Princeton, Ky., where there
was a fine college.
"Om- supply of food was getting
low by the time we came to the
Ohio river. We crossed the river at
a place called Ford's Ferry, on a
ferry boat. When we got across we
caught some fish out of the river
and cooked them on the bank. We
started with a five-gallon jar of
honey, but it was broken on the
way.
"As we came on it got hotter and
hotter but we saw more timber.. The
wolves howled more frequently. Fin-
ally, we came to Equality, a small
town. A few miles this side of
Equality we came to an old camp
where salt had been made. Great
kettles were lying around and one
which was about 10 feet across was
broken. For almost a mile around
this old salt camp the timber had
been cleared off and small trees
and brush had grown up so thick a
person could scarcely get through
My father had to cut a way for
the wagon to pass through. It v/as
so dense and dark in there that we
lost two head of cattle and stayed
over a whole day looking for them
but had to go on without them.
"Several miles farther on we came
to the open prairie. It was so hot
and the flies swarmed so bad around
the cattle that we stayed in the
shade all day to let the cattle rest.
At dusk we would move on and
drive the cattle many miles while
it was cool. We were all barefooted
and the snakes were thick for the
grass was thick and tall. We could
hear the whippoorwills which scared
me at first but I soon liked to hear
them and would lie awake at night
listening for them.
"After many hardships and much
suffering from the heat, we came
to a settlement called Paradise,
near Etna in Coles County, Illinois,
on July 8. 1834, lacking two days of
being a month from the day we
started, a distance of over 400 miles.
"From Paradise we traveled east
to Muddy Point where we were
neighbors of Tommy Lincoln, Abra-
ham Lincoln's father, and stayed
with Billie Dryden and family who
had come to Illinois in 1829. When
Uncle Billie heard we were at Para-
dise he came to meet us riding a
white horse.
"The following year, 1835, we
moved three-fourths of a mile east
of the village of Farmington, which
was named for the village we left
in Tennessee. My father built a
brick house there in 1849. While
we lived there we were again neigh-
bors of the Lincoln's. I remember
well one year we lived there. Abe's
father had a watennelon patch and
every evening my younger brother
and sister carried water from their
well. One evening they were com-
ing slowly along the edge of the
melon patch. First my brother
w^ould thump a melon and say "I'll
bet this'n ripe," then my sister
would say, "I'll bet this'n ripe," and
just as she pulled it Tommy Lin-
coln came out. Tliey were very
much frightened at first but when
he told them to take all they want-
ed they were so tickled they ran
all the way home and always held
Tommy Lincoln in high esteem.
"When my father built the brick
house there were only a few houses
in Farmington and it was not
:s^j^-'!r?;''-^*3::fSj-:.:..
AS
'-% 3^
David Dryden
Louisa, V. Evving
Mary Ellen Hughes
W. J. Hughes
Joseph Allison
Jeff Adams
known by any name. My younger
sister, Caroline, gave it the name
of Farmington after Parmington,
Tenn.
"Some years later a new house was
built and a family lived there by
the name of Hall. Mrs. Hall was a
step-sister of Abraham Lincoln.
"My father owned a blacksmith's
shop and Thomas Lincoln assisted
him when more work came in than
he could do himself.
"After Abe was elected president
of the United States, before he went
to Washington to live, Mrs. Hall and
Sarah Bush Lincoln gave a dinner
in his honor in this new house.
Everybody who knew he was com-
ing came to this house to see him.
He was eager to speak to everyone
and no one felt he had had such
an honor and responsibility be-
stowed upon him."
The Di-yden's were of English ex-
traction being descended from Sir
Richard Baxter.
David Dryden was born in Ii'e-
land in 1718, and came to America
in 1740 immediately after his mar-
riage to Barbara Berry. His wife's
brother, James Berry, was killed at
the battle of Horseshoe Bend dur-
ing the Revolutionary War. Nath-
aniel Dryden, a brother of David
Dryden, was killed at King's Momi-
tain.
David and Barbara had eight
children. The second son, Jona-
than, was born in 1770 and he mar-
ried Hannah Duff in 1792. To these
were bom 12 children, the eldest,
David, born Sept. 25, 1793, in Wash-
ington County, Virginia.
David moved to Tennessee in
1808 or '09 and was married to Mary
Appleby, Dec. 25. 1817. He served in
the War of 1812.
To David and Mary were born
10 children, the oldest daughter,
Harmah Eveline, bom June 7, 1822.
Mary, his wife died Sept. 6, 1857,
at the home of her daughter, Mrs.
Eliza Bovell, in Coles County. Illi-
nois, only a few miles from Farm-
ington, where she lived after com-
ing from Tennessee.
On Nov. 18, 1859, he married Har-
riet Miner. In 1865 he moved to
Madison, Wis., living near his sons,
Nathaniel and William. In 1869 he
moved to Charleston, 111., living
there until 1872 when he moved
to Farmington where he died Jan.
16, 1879.
He was an elder in the Presby-
terian chiu-ch at Indian Creek for
many years and served as justice
of the peace. He was school treas-
m-er at the time Thomas Lincoln
bought his farm near Farmington
which was a part of the school land
and was paid for in installments.
When the payments came due and
Thomas Lincoln could not meet
them, often Abe Lincoln would call
on David Dryden and make ar-
rangements for paying the amounts.
David Dryden was a man thor-
oughly respected for his sterling
integrity and of decided positive
opinions. His interest in public af-
fairs never waned and at the time
of his death he was a wide reader.
These characteristics were very
noticeable to the fourth generation.
My grandmother, Hannah Evelyn
Di-yden lived to be over 101 years
old. "When far in her 90's I re-
member visiting her to find her
with three volumes of "A Histoiy
of the Jews," reading them care-
fully.
She was married to Andrew Hem-y
Allison, Dec. 30, 1845. To them
were born eight children, the oldest,
Mary Ann, living almost 91 years.
My father, Henry Cathy, was born
Aug. 27, 1860, and is still living.
My grandfather died in Novem-
ber, 1864, at the close of the Civil
War. It took an unusual woman
to shoulder the responsibility of
raising eight children, working in
the field in the daytime and knit-
ting, patching, baking com pone
on the fireplace at night. She
never borrowed trouble and calmly
lived each day as it came. She
never hurried through her meals,
ate slowly and was always careful
to cook her food well — no "raw"
biscuits were served at her table.
Her oldest son, Tom, still owns and
lives on the farm that grandfather
bought from the government when
he married in 1845.
This land was known as "Goose
Nest Prairie" and was covered with
ponds where the wild geese nested
in the spring. My father helped
drain those ponds by digging ditches
and putting in slabs of wood to
hold the dirt and let the water nm
off. Later tile was put in which
still serves to drain the land.
Ttt^o or three years after David
Dryden's death friends and relatives
begun holding a reunion on the
Saturday nearest Sept. 25, his birth-
day. They met at Indian, Muddy
Point and Long Point churches but
finally decided on Lower Muddy
church where shade and water were
plentiful. For over 40 years this
gathering was known all over the
country. Relatives came from In-
dianapolis, Ind., Chicago, Nebraska,
Minnesota, Iowa, Arizona, Arkansas
and many other parts. Great ket-
tles of coffee were made and long
tables of food were the delight of
our lives. Sometimes as many as
200 were served.
This church was located by the
Clover Leaf or Nickel Plate rail-
road and we as children enjoyed
seeing the engineer and fireman
wave when the trains went by and
we were eating all that food, feel-
ing sure they wanted some too, for
they usually blew the whistle long
and loud.
After the food was gathered up
and put away in boxes, baskets and
tubs everyone went into the church
for the programi. Hymns were sung,
a rep>ort read of all the marriages,
births and deaths since the last
meeting. Talks were made by those
from a distance or some one prom-
inent in the community. My uncle,
W. D. Allison, of Indianapolis, Ind.,
would play the old church organ
and sing. His songs were beautiful
and can never be forgotten, such
as "My Mother Told Me So," "If
the Waters Could Speak as They
Flow Along," and "The Little Old
Log Cabin in the Lane."
On Aug. 14, 1849, Jonathan Thom-
as Dry den, son of David Diyden,
died of cholera at Mineral Point,
Wis., after a few hours sickne-ss. He
died at the age of 19 years, 9
months, 7 days. Geo. B. Balch and
Billy Scott were with him and
traveled with the body at night
when brought home for burial. Mr.
Balch wrote the following poem
about the incident:
"Ho, guardian angel pray draw night
Thy all prevailing powers to lend.
While I in notes of sorrow sing
The memory of a departed friend.
He was kind and generous in heart,
A wrong he scorned to do —
Was honest, virtuous and sincere,
Was also just and true.
But now he's left this wicked earth
And gone to worlds afar,
We hope the crown upon his head
Shines like the morning star.
Oh! sad and lonely was the scene
Around his dying bier.
But one other friend and I were
there
To shed a mournful tear.
No weeping brother round him stood
No sister smoothed his dying bed.
No father, no! Nor mother there.
To cry, "Alas, my son is dead."
When David Dryden's oldest son,
Nathaniel, moved to Wisconsin he
saw his children settle a new state
for the second son, William, moved
there too. Nathaniel married Em-
ma Balch in Coles Coimty, Illinois.
Tliey settled near Mt. Horeb, Wis.,
in 1845 and on Sept. 29, 1861, his
daughter, Elizabeth Ann, married
James Forsyth.
The Forsyths lived in Illinois, Iowa
and finally settled in New Helena,
Custer county. Neb., in 1874, where
seven children were raised to man-
hood and womanhood. This was
five years before David Dryden
died.
Two of these children were edu-
cated for the ministry and the
following is the memorial address
by Bishop Francis J. McConnell at
the annual meeting of the Board of
Home Missions and Church Exten-
sion of the Methodist Church, Syra-
cuse, N. Y.:
"David Dryden Forsyth was born
in Wisconsin in 1864. About 1868 the
family moved near Mason City, la.
Moving again four years later
about 20 miles north of Broken Bow,
Neb.
Here David Forsyth lived imtil
he went to the University of Neb-
raska, where he graduated in the
Class of 1889. Among his class-
mates were Dean Roscoe Pound and
Prof. Holmes.
During his senior year he was
taken desperately ill with pneumon-
ia, so ill that the doctor knelt by
his bedside and promised the Lord
to do all possible to persuade the
young man to abandon the study of
law and turn to the ministiy if re-
storation of health were granted.
The prayer for recovery was ful-
filled and Dr. Paine told David
Forsyth of the promise at his bed-
side. His reply was "It seems to
me you are very generous in dis-
posing of other peoples lives," but
after careful reflection he went to
Garrett Bible Institute for two years
and then joined the Northwest Neb-
raska Annual Conference.
In a notably brief period David
Forsythe reached the foremost pul-
pit of his conference at Kearney,
Neb., the home of his grandfather,
Nathaniel Dryden. Later he served
charges at Cheyenne, Wyo., Delta
and Grand Junction, Colo.
The late Bishop Quayle did not
boast much of his own administra-
tive ability but he occassionally
showed positive genius in appoint-
ment making. Holding the Colo-
rado Conference in 1910, Bishop
Quayle became convinced that all
the Methodist work should be so
arranged as to put it in one dis-
trict. In the face of considerable
protest he reshaped the district and
put David Forsyth at the head of
it.
To the objecixars the Bishop said,
with his inimitable drawl, that he
had put on the district a man who
could handle it as easily as a school-
boy could make and throw a snow-
ball. The years have proved the
soundness of Bishop Quayle's judg-
ment.
In the six years of his adminis-
tration, the Denver district built up
and turned over to Dr. Auman, his
successor, the best co-ordinated,
best unified, the most smoothly
working city district that I have
ever known. In those six years
were revealed also the great abili-
ties which Dr. Forsyth manifested
from 1916 to 1926 as the correspond-
ing Secretary of the Board of
Home Missions and Church Exten-
sion.
Prof. T. J. Turner of Harvard,
has written a remarkable book on
the "Significance of the Frontier
in American Historv." Prof Turner
points out that following the foun-
dation of the Republic, the grov/-
ing life of. the young nation showed
itself most uniquely in the con-
quest of the western wilderness and
that all the more important policies
of the U. S., both domestic and
foreign, for 100 years, take their
distinctiveness from the activity
and the thinking and the character
of the frontiersman who was a
new and peculiar type in the history
of humanity.
Now for 15 years I have thought
of David Forsyth as the establish-
ment of the frontier spirit at its
highest and best. Permit me in
just a few words to hint at some
of the experiences which make him
in fact a man of the frontier.
As I have said above his earliest
recollections were of their move-
ment westward from Wisconsin to
Iowa, then to Nebraska as a child
in a frontiersman's family. It has
been my privilege in these recent
years to travel extensively v/ith Dv.
Forsyth. At rare moments he would
tell enough of his early life to
give swift but vivid glimpses of the
old pioneer da^^s — of plowing the
prairie in his boyhood with a man
walking ahead of the horses with a
rifle cocked and ready for instant
use — of the day in 1876, when, be-
cause of the Sioux uprising, the
pioneers, the Forsyth's among them,
traveled together 100 miles to Loup
City to face the winter in a set-
tlement too strong to be attacked;
hostile scouts hanging in the flanks
of the marching company— of the
hundred mile journey to a doctor
with the sick from widely scattered
homesteads. I have heard him tell
of being sent to hold a legal claim
to land against the protests and
threats of a notorious bad man,
who had threatened to kill any
Forsyth who insisted on defying the
edict against the Forsyth claim.
At night time the youthful David
would see the bad man's dog nos-
ing around the entrance of the
Forsyth shack, the man himself not
quite daring to venture through the
doorless opening and thus make a
larget of himself.
I have also heard him tell of his
first appointment. Sent by the
Bishop to a little church where
preaching had been intermittent for
years, he tried without avail to find
a boarding place, when a gaunt,
silent, giant of a man sought him
out, took him to his house and kept
him through the winter. The bene-
factor attended church every Sun-
day during his stay, always sat on
the front seat and looked out ab-
sently through the window and
across the plains. Some months af-
ter his pastorate closed there, David
Forsyth learned that the man who
had befriended him had shot and
killed an uncle in a frontier quarrel
years before, and presumably was
thus working out an expiation of
kindliness to the nephew.
The position to which Dr. Forsyth
was elected in 1916, I repeat, made
demands upon the qualities develop-
ed on the frontier. At the 1916
conference the Board of Home Mis-
sions and Church Extension was re-
organized throughout. The scale o.i
which the Board worked and the
multitudinous variety of its activi-
ties made the situation for the sec-
retai-y unparalleled in our adminis-
tration history. Moreover, the per-
iod of our national life was itself
without parallel. The General Con-
ference of 1916 closed just 11
months before our entry into the
World War. The war brought un-
precedented problems, with its dis-
tribution of industry and its re-
distribution of mass population in-
to training camps and into war-
time manufacturing centers.
Night after night, till far toward
morning, Dr. Forsyth worked away
on plans on which the past history
of Home Missions and Church Ex-
tension could throw no light at all.
Then came the Centenary, likewise
creating new paths. Then the de-
clining interest on the part of the
church in the Centenary and World
Service program, a decline for
which no individual was responsible,
a decline coming in part out of dis-
illusionment after the war, in part
out of the moral lassitude which
followed the psychological overstrain
of the five years following 1917.
By the time the General Confer-
ence met in 1924, practically all ths
official heads of society responsible
for the Centenary movement had
passed out of official position or
were working in other fields.
To Dr. Forsyth more than to any
other individual was left the task
of salvaging the physical and spir-
itual results of this vast program
inaugurated by the Centenary. The
task called for inevitable patience,
good humor and firmness. Chui'ches
in wealthy communities, abundantly
able to take care of their own ma-
terial needs, came clamoring, often
angrily, asking for missionary funds
to complete purely local enterprises
and blaming him because the funds
were not available, and yet in prac-
tically every case the complainant
went away satisfied with the ex-
planation of Dr. Forsyth.
After long intimacy with David
Dryden Forsyth, who like Abraham
Lincoln, lived through severe pio-
neer conditions. I never saw in
him any trace of roughness or
coarseness. He was at times frank
to the point of brusqueness. but
only in cases where such frankness
was the part of kindness. He was
fine by nature, and the pioneer
lost nothing of its exquisite quality
by the stern experiences through
which he lived.
When the word came to the Bish-
op's meeting in Denver that David
Dryden Forsyth had passed away,
there came at once to my mind
certain lines Edward Markham's
poem on Lincoln, phrases as applic-
able to our fallen leader as to the
great Lincoln himself:
"So came the captain with the
mighty heart.
He held his place — held his long
purpose like a growing tree . . .
Held on through praise and faltered
not to blame —
When he went down, he fell as
when a lordly cedar, full of
boughs goes down, with a great
shout upon the hills —
And leaves a lonesome place against
the sky."
Thus we see the remote influence
of a great grandfather, such as Da-
vid Dryden upon the making of a
great nation. David Dryden and
his family to the third and fourth
generation, represents only one of
many, many families who have
helped to make the United States
of America.
PART II.
Joseph Allison was born in Meck-
linburg County, North Carolina,
Feb. 11, 1796 and died Aug. 20. 1862,
in Coles Comity, Illinois, near the
village of Farmington.
He married Margaret Ann Cathy,
July 13, 1800 and she died Oct. 26.
1878, near Farmington, Coles Coun-
ty, Illinois.
In 1828 or '30 they left North
Carolina, and moved to Gibson
County. Tennessee. Two children
were bom in North Carolina, three
in Tennessee and two in Illinois.
My grandfather. Andrew Henry
and his sister Sarah Caroline, were
born in North Carolina, he having
been born Oct. 19, 1823, and moved
to Illinois from Gibson Coimty,
Temiessee in 1836. They settled on
a fai'm near the Nickel Plate rail-
road between Lerna and Trilla near
the Lower Muddy cemetery. After
a few months they moved to a farm
a mile north of Farmington which
land he entered from the govern-
ment. Tliey were neighbors of the
Drydens and Lincolns.
Joseph Allison was a hatter and
made coonskin caps, blacksnake
whips, saddles and harness.
For many years he was clerk of
the session of the Presbyterian
church at Indian Creek and was a
devout worker in the chui'ch. The
Sabbath was kept very strict and
nothing was done only that which
was obsolutely necessary on that
day.
He was very much opposed to
slavery. When they left North Caro-
lina, his wife's father gave her a
slave. This slave was a boy 16
years old. One day grandmother
found him stealing sugar out of
the sugar bowl so she got a strap
and gave him a whipping. Grand-
father saw her and sent the slave
back to North Carolina. Later he
refused to take money the slave
brought when sold and told his
owner to give it to the slave.
A letter from a brother of Jos-
eph Allison who lived in Sumner
County, Tennessee, written Dec. 22,
1843, expresses some of the views
current at that time on slavery:
"In regard to the principles men-
tioned there has been no material
change, since I fii'st found any
principle on the subject.
"No, my brother, the principle
difference between brother William
and myself is, that I believe the
principles of the Abolition party are
erroneous and their measures have
been most disastrous to the interest
of the colored race, and the cause
of liberty. I believe, further, that
if their principles and practices
were correct in themselves, the
prominence they give to the sub-
ject, making it everything, would
be a radical objection against them.
"Such views as these are suf-
ficient to identify me, in the mind
of every thorough abolitionist with
robbers and manstealors.
"I know further on this subject
that when the Savior and His dis-
ciples were here on earth, slavery
existed in the Roman Empire in a
much more cruel form than is
known in any of the American
states. Yet, how did they oppose
it?
"By preaching the pure principles
of the Gospel, and in no one in-
stance can it be shown that they
ever directly attacked this or any
other political institution of that
day, bad as many of them undoubt-
edly were. Much less did they lay
aside their appropriate work."
Another brother, John Allison,
from Rutherford County, Tennessee,
wTites July 11, 1837:
"I have an anxiety to know how
the chui'ches in yom" region will
act in reference to the discussion
of the last General Assembly.
"Yom's is called a new school re-
gion, and I have been apprehen-
sive that they would all join with
those who are now exerting every
nerve to raise a new Assembly and
call itself the real Assembly and
appeal to the laws of the land to
confirm the title. I do not feel
disposed to endorse for everything
that the late Assembly have done
but I do think that the course
that the defeated party are now
taking is the most inconsistent with
the profession of Christianity of
anything I have witnessed of late
years.
"May the Lord have mercy upon
our beloved Union and speedily
hush all her contentions to peace. '
The first church established in
Coles County was Presbyterian and
located on Indian Creek about three
miles northwest of Farmington.
This is verified by Albert B. Balch
as follows:
In searching among some old
records I find that the first church
built on Indian Creek was in 1832.
Two years before, Aug. 30, 1830, the
Presbyterian church was organized
by the Rev. B. F. Spillman with the
following members:
Thomas Myei-s, Agnes Myers,
Theron Balch, Ann Boyd, Thomas
McCracken, Nancy McCracken,
James Ashmore, Cassandra Ash-
more, Rachel Ashmore, William
Wayne, James Logan and Eliza-
beth Logan.
They met at the cabin of Theron
Balch for organization.
The next summer, June 1, 1831,
the members met and agreed to
donate so many days work each
in building a church of logs 24x30
feet in size. William Barnett sub-
scribed 26 spikes, William Wayne
30 bushels of lime. That fall the
church was raised and covered. The
flooring was sawed out by a whip-
saw, the studding and roof were
made of slabs, split out with a maul
and wedge and dressed with an
adz. The seats were made of long
slabs placed on tressels, and the
church remained in an unfinished
condition about two years.
The member who had subscribed
lime, having failed to make good
his donation. Rev. John McDonald,
the pastor who possessed energy in
world matters as well as spiritual,
with the aid of Patrick Nicholson,
proposed to remedy the deficiency.
Lime rock was found on Indian
Creek, logs were hauled and placed
on end around it set afire and the
rocks reduced to lime. Rev. Mc-
Donald with the aid of his parish-
ioners made the plaster and with
his own hands the worthy minister
plastered the church. It being cold
weather the floor was partially tak-
en up and on a bed of sand a fire
was built which was kept burning
until the plaster was thoroughly
dry.
In 1834 the congregation secured
the services of Rev. James H.
Shields of Indiana to preach one-
half time but this arrangement did
not last long and he sent word
resigning his pastorate. The Rev.
Isaac Bennett was then called to
fill the vacancy and he remained
for several years. Finally, Rev. Mc-
Donald became the permanent pas-
tor. Andrew H. Allison and Han-
nah Eveline Dryden were married
by Rev. McDonald, Dec. 30, 1845.
Archible Allison, Josephs grand-
father was born in Ireland in 1736.
Andrew Allison, Joseph's father
was born in Donegal County, Ire-
land in 1770, coming to Mecklin-
burg County, North Carolina around
1790, bringing his father with him.
Joseph Allison had one son, John,
in the Civil War who later mar-
ried Belle Ewing, my grandfather's
sister.
My grandfather, Andrew Henry Al-
lison, looked after the families who
were left during the war and died
from exposure and overwork at the
close of the war. Men who knew
him well told how he would start
the oxen to the field, and he would
cut some wood to use for cooking
while they went on, then he would
run and catch up with them before
they got to the field. He was a
good stock man, keeping cattle and
horses to sell to others.
When Lincoln made his last visit
to see his step-mother, grandfather
was in the road near his home.
When he saw the carriage coming
he got on his horse, raced to Farm-
ington and had someone fire the
anvils and beat the drums when the
carriage drove into Farmington.
Had he lived, manv predicted he
would have been one of the largest
landowners in Coles County. He
was only 41 years old when he died
November, 1864.
Grandmother seldom mentioned
his passing so soon but she said she
was always lonesome whenever he
went away, so we know how lone-
some she was for almost 60 years
without him.
PART III.
When William Ewing started on
horseback from Grayson Comity,
Kentucky in 1828 to look for a new
home, he was accompanied by two
or three neighbors who were on the
same mission. They came up into
eastern Illinois as far north as
Kankakee.
Not liking that part of the coun-
try he started southwest near the
present site of Bloomington, then
into Sangamon County, near
Springfield, then south and east un-
til he came to Coles County. He
settled some five or six miles north
^and west of Farmington and 1%
miles northeast of Lerna.
In 1829 he brought his family,
which consisted of his wife and four
children, to this place. My grand-
father, William McAfee Ewing, was
born at this place April 21, 1832.
When they reached this country
they could not find a cabin to live
in so they cleaned out a sheepshed
and lived in that until logs and
timber enough could be cut to build
a house to live in.
Being a very hard working and
industrious man, he began clearing
off timber and brush for planting
corn and vegetables and soon had
a small crop growing. Then he made
rails for fences, set out fruit trees
and built other buildings for use
around the farm.
Cedar trees were still standing 80
years after he planted them there.
for my sister, Carrie Allison Ash-
brook, started housekeeping in
the very house he built, used
water out of the same well and
her boys played under those trees
until they were six and nine years
of age. But all that he made has
been torn away now and only a
memory of it all is left.
The Ewings originally came from
Scotland to North Ireland in the
vicinity of Londonery for some
years, and then three brothers came
to America, settling in Pennsylva-
nia in the early part of 1700. It
was here that Samuel Ewing, father
of Judge William Ewing lived.
Judge William Ewing came to
Grayson County, Kentucky, in 1794.
He settled near Litchfield and im-
proved a farm there. His only son,
William, was born there in 1797.
Judge Ewing came to make his
home with his son in 1831 in Coles
County, Illinois, and died Jan. 11,
1834, and was buried in the In-
dian Creek Cemetery.
A copy of a leter written by
Judge Ewing to his son April 22,
1831, shows he was making plans
to come to Illinois, reads as fol-
lows:
Dear Son:
By this opportunity I would in-
form you that we are at present
enjoying tolerable health, with
hopes that you and your family are
also favored.
I rec'd your letter by the hand
of Samuel Williams which gave us
the satisfying account of your wel-
fare. We heard some very distress-
ing accounts from your state, which
made us the more anxious to hear
from you. We heard that there
were a good many people perished
with cold, and their stock froze
standing up. We had the hardest
winter here that I have ever seen
in Kentucky, and the snow some-
thing like 18 inches deep and I
was very ill prepared for a haru
winter, having but a very short
crop of corn but I got as much of
Charles Wortham's, rent corn as
I needed, and have not lost anv
stock except some younj pigs that
come in cold weather.
I would be willing to move to your
country if I could sell my place for
money, but that is what I do not
expect, and I have an idea that a
man has no business in your coun-
try except he has some money to
help himself. I have offered my
place at $300.00 paid down. Samuel
Wortham sent me word that he
would give my price, if I would take
$70.00 in money and a new wagon
and the balance in horses or other
property at cash price. But I do
not think that kind of pay would
answer my purpose.
I have collected the $50.00 that
was due from Benjamin Rogers
and have sent it to you by Sam-
uel Williams. I also gave him the
horse I rec'd from Rogers last fall
and he has been trying to sell him,
but I am afraid he cannot sell him
for the money before he starts
home. The other horse and sad-
dle that is coming from Rogers will
not be due until the last of October
next. He says if it would suit you
better to take the balance, all in
saddles, he would pay it in that
way by your giving him notice in
time to have them made. He will
I)ay one horse agreeable to bar-
gain.
Charles Wortham's family is well.
John Jamison's family is also well.
No more but a request to "be
remembered to all enquirers.
Your affectionate father.
Judge William Ewing.
William Ewing married Louisa
Villars Williams in Grayson Coun-
ty, Kentucky, and 14 children were
bom to them, four of which came
with them to Illinois.
Louisa V. Williams was born in
1803 in Kentucky and died near
Areola, Douglas County, Illinois, in
September, 1897. Her father was a
slave owner in Kentucky and he
gave her one when she married
which she sold for $900.00.
Samuel Williams, her brother,
settled in the same neighborhood in
Coles County, Illinois. Those who
remained in the south were south-
em sympathizers during the Civil
War and still owned slaves. Two of
William Ewing II
her sons, Joe and Tom, went back to
Elizabeth town, Ky., with another
brother, Cap Williams, where they
took horses to sell just before the
war. Uncle Cap had trouble with
another man over politics and Tom
Ewing had to rescue him at the
point of a gun to keep him from
being hurt. This was shortly after
"John Brown's Raid."
Grandmother could remember the
soldiers marching home from the
War of 1812.
Three of her sons, Joe, Tom and
William fought in the Civil War.
Tom was taken prisoner at Ander-
sonville, but was released and fin-
ally discharged as a first lieuten-
ant. Joe and William, my grand-
father, belonged to 5th Cavalry,
121st Illinois Regiment, and served
three years.
The vivid descriptions my grand-
father told of the many incidents
that happened during the Civil
UPPER LEFT: Home of Andrew H. and Elveline Allison, lbbU-t)4.
UPPER RIGHT: Cabin en Klckapoo occupied by Henry C. and Ella Allison. 1883.
LOWER LEFT: Ewing Homestead— 1830.
LOWER RIGHT: Cabin where Nancy Allison Nicholson lived, 1876.
War will never be forgotten.
He married Sarah A. Hughes, Oct.
2, 1855, and my mother was the
second of three children. She was
born Feb. 1, 1861.
When grandfather came home
from the Civil War she did not
know him, which probably made
him feel very badly.
During the war he was taken very
ill and sent to a Hospital at Cairo,
111. Grandmother took my mother,
who was a babe in arms, my micle
and gi-andfather"s youngest brother,
Robert Ewing, and went to see
grandfather. He cried when Uncle
Dan went running to him in the
ward. After talking things over
with grandmother and Uncle Rob-
ert, grandmother got a suit of cit-
izens clothes, put them on grand-
father and got him out of the hos-
pital. It did not take long for
him to recover and he went back
and served the remainder of the
war in his company.
In 1851 he went to Califcrnia to
seek his fortune in the gold fields.
He often told of the journey across
the plains and the desert in Nevada,
how their tongues were so swollen
from thirst they could not talk. How
they ate so many buffaloes he never
could tolerate beef, butter or milk.
He came back on board ship around
Cape Horn and South America to
New York. Wliile enroute he con-
tracted ship fever and would have
S 0K5 cl\^6
I «'<>^ c e ^6.
Sarah A. Hughes^^,'a.Hanna Eveline Hryden A Jft 5^vc
Andrew Henry Allison / William McFee Ewing:
been detained either on board ship
or in a government hospital had
not some of his friends helped him
walk off the boat.
About 1873 several families, in-
cluding my grandfather's, went in
covered wagons to southwest Mis-
souri to live. Three years of poor
crops and bad health sent most of
them back to Illinois.
He bought the farm we now live
on about 1878. When my father
and mother were married grand-
father bought a small farm in the
north edge of Lerna and sold the
farm to my father. After living
there six or eight years they moved
to Mattoon where grandmother died
April 7, 1900. Grandfather develop-
ed cancer of the throat about that
time and suffered for six years but
never made others feel his trouble
was more than others v\'ere endur-
ing. He lived with us those years
and we always enjoyed his stories
about the war and his journey
across the plains. He died Jan. 16,
1906, and was buried at Indian
Creek cemetery where both his
father and grandfather were buried.
His love for horses and ability to
care for and train them for farm
work was known throughout the
neighborhood. He often told us
grandmother was the prettiest girl
and the best cook for miles around.
We could vouch for the cooking
for her cookie jar was never empty
when we went to see her.
Thus, we see another family who
helped develop Ck)les County, and
help made it a good place in which
to live.
PART IV.
William J. Hughes was born near
Richmond, Va., Nov. 15, 1807, and
died in Coles County, Illinois. Sept.
10, 1884.
He and his brother, Samuel, left
Virginia and settled about 15 miles
north of Chillicothe, Ohio. He mar-
ried Ellen J. Martin in 1833 and 10
children were bom to them, my
grandmother Sarah Hughes Ewing.
being the oldest, was bom in Ross
Co., Ohio, May 3, 1836. Grandmother
Hughes was born March 17, 1817.
and when 16 years of age she mar-
ried William J. Hughes. She died
in Coles County, Illinois, July 11.
1886, both she and her husband
are buiied at Indian Creek ceme-
tery.
They settled two or three miles
east of Charleston, 111., when they
came to Coles County, then moved
north of Farmington about five
miles and three miles east of where
Lerna is now.
He had an apple orchard, built
a granary, apple house and other
buildings most people did not have.
He also played the violin and no
one enjoyed anything more than
he did than for his children to
dance the Virginia Reel while he
played the music on his violin. His
farm was known throughout the
neighborhood for its clean fence
rows, neat buildings and well-kept
premises.
His children all grew to manliood
and womanhood In Coles County
but some of them moved
to other states. One son, James,
married Lucretia Ewing. Their son.
Walter is a lawyer in Chicago, 111.
A daughter. Lide Hughes Edman,
died in California Dec. 15, 1928, and
her son, Charles, is a real estate
man at Monte Vista, Colo. The
youngest daughter. Meek Hughes
Balch. died at Greeley, Colo.
The Hughes were known for their
hospitality, and no one could leave
their home without being served
to apples and cider when in sea-
son.
Grandfather had the best tools for
doing carpenter work of any one in
the county. He could make furniture
and in Ohio was recognized as a
cabinet maker. His ability as a
livestock farmer was not as good
as for grain and keeping everything
in good repair.
We have no record of his having
been prominent in religious or po-
litical affairs. Whenever they at-
tended church it usually was at the
Indian Creek Presbyterian church.
Honesty and right living was the
rule he lived by and no worthier
thought than that can any man
have.
Thus the Hughes family lived and
helped make Coles County a good
place in which to live.
THE FAR^UNGTON HOME-
COMING
The village was all astir. Every
one was up when the sun rose over
the Ambraw hilLs. When the chil-
dren assembled on the play-round
before school, women were seen
scurrying toward a humble frame
cottage on the outskirts of the vil-
lage with buckets, pans and aprons
bulging with food, all talking in ex-
cited voices. Soon it was learned
what it was all about — President
Lincoln was coming to see his step-
mother before going to Washington
to assume the resF>onsibilities of the
nation.
Walter Hughes
Chicago
Dan W. Ewing
Mattoon
W. D. AUison
Indianapolis
John Dryden
Kearney, Neb.
GRANDSONS
And what a Homecoming it was!
The dinner was cooked and served
in his aunt's home — "Old Til
Moore" as the school children call-
ed her, for she was a tall, thin,
grouchy woman who treated chil-
dren as a sort of pest she should
not be bothered with.
All the pretty girls came to wait
on the table and assist in any way
his kind old step-mother. The ta-
ble was decorated with glass dishes
from the entire village and snowy
white sheets were used for table
cloths.
The school children all came over
to shake hands with this tall, kind
son of Aunt Sarah's. Many of the
children were too bashful to ap-
proach him but those who did re-
ceived a kind word and loving smile
they never forgot. One little girl
was carrying her hand and arm
in a sling due to an accident at a
sorghum mill, and he stopped and
kissed her asking how the accident
happened.
"When he entered the village one
of the farmers nearby overtook
President Lincoln in his carriage
and as he wns on horseback he hur-
ried on to Farmington, got out the
drums and had men fire the an-
vils when Lincoln entered the vil-
lage.
During the day he visited his
father's grave at Shiloh Cemetery
and later drove back to Charleston,
the county seat, to make his way to
Washington.
The sun rose Sept. 25th, 1932, over
the same Ambraw hills, not many
were moving about the village, an
occasional motor car stopped for
fuel near the little framCcottage
where Abriham Lincoln ate din-
ner with his step-mother for the
last time.
Later in the day as the noon hour
approached, more cars came and
parked on the playgromid by the
schoolhouse. Boxes, baskets, pails
and pans were carried to long tables
in front of the building and by one
o'clock dinner was served to all who
cared to eat. Another Homecoming,
it was, in Farmington!
After all had eaten and baskets
were packed and returned to the
cars parked around the grounds, all
journeyed to the little church across
the road from the Moore cottage
and listened to the many people
who had formerly lived in that
commm:iity and had returned to see
their friends perhaps for the last
time.
When the program was well over,
a modest little lady rose and told
about her grandfather who gave
the land for this little village of
Farmington. "Uncle Jeff" Adams as
he was known came to this part of
Illinois before the Lincolns, Drj'dens
or Allisons. When his wife died he
married Caroline Dryden and she
gave this village the name of Farm-
ington.
"Uncle Jeff" fought with Abra-
ham Lincoln in the Black Hawk
War and when Lincoln called for
volunteers in the Civil War, he
with his two sons, answered the
call. He was made a Lieut. Col-
onel of the Fifth Cavali-y.
This little lady. Uncle Jeff's
granddaughter, told how he came
to Coles County together with 15
grown people and 11 children from
Tennessee, traveling in three wag-
ons taking 24 days to come 400
miles.
"Uncle Jeff" had not been mar-
ried but a year or so but he had
lots of courage and left Tennessee
to find a home for his wife and
baby, who was only a few days old.
This baby was this littl: lady's fa-
ther. The hardships were many but
fortune was kind to him and he be-
came the owner of many acres of
land.
When will the next Homecoming
be?
Soon those boys and girls will all
be gone who shook Lincoln's hand
and saw his pleasant smile or knew
"Uncle Jeff" who rode his pracing
horse away to war and gave the
ground on which we woi-ship and
receive the knowledge we must have
to make his memory bright.
When will the next Homecoming
be? Every year, I hope, in Farm-
ington but every day where Abra-
ham Lincoln and Uncle Jeff have
gone to dwell.
A WILD RIDE,
Way back when apple parings,
square dances and barn raisings
were the chief amusements for the
young folks, my uncle saddled two
of his best riding horses late one
evening and went to the little vil-
lage of Farmington to take one of
the "fair" ones of the village to one
of these parties.
Farmington, as you may know, is
that village made famous by Abra-
ham Lincoln's father, Thomas Lin-
coln and his step-mother, Sarah
Bush Lincoln. At the time this
story takes place, over 60 years ago,
it was a thriving village compared
to what you see there today. They
had a mill for grinding grain, a
blacksmith's shop, store, drug store,
hat shop, doctor's office, post office,
school and church.
The horse, my uncle took for his
companion to ride, was known
throughout the community as above
the average farm horse for speed.
My father had tried out its gait
on several occasions and was always
delighted when he could exercise
him driving up the cows.
The young lady in question came
out and seated herself in the com-
fortable side saddle. Not realizing
the energy that her charger pos-
Hannah Eveline Allison — ^ 00
sessed, she started putting on her
gloves, not touching the reins or
giving a thought to the manage-
ment of such a docile animal, when
away he went, flying down the road
v/ith my uncle following on his
horse in hot pursuit, but barely
keeping in sight of such a race
horse.
After flying through the village
and down a lane he whiiied and
came back with his companion still
clinging to the side saddle. My uncle
went to meet them and succeeded
in grabbing the rein, riding along
side of the fractious steed. He tied
the rein to his horse's bridle after
which the ride to the party was
uneventful.
When running down the street,
my uncle yelled at two men stand-
ing out in front of the store to stop
the horse but they made no at-
tempt to do so. They told the
story saying that my uncle yelled
"stop them calves." Of course the
X^'
rider's skirts were flying high and
the public do not notice such things
nowadays with so many short skirts
on parade.
My uncle is 89 years old now and
still tells this story with much glee.
MOTHER ALLISON
(Written by Pearl Polk Dungan.
Indianapolis, for the 100th anniver-
sary of Mrs. Hannah Eveline Alli-
son, Charleston, 111.. June 7th, 1922.)
A century of life;
Has the way seemed long.
Or the pathway dreary.
Have things gone wrong,
Or the heart grown weary?
Ah, no —
Looking back thi'ough the years
I think you must see
The smiles but not the tears,
And I think you must see —
Only flowers on the path
Where the thorns used to be.
In the dim distant past
I think you have known
Why days over cast
Have much brighter grown
Where you heard a Voice say
"My love shields my own."
I think you have worked
That others might live
And given of yourself
As only "Mother" can give.
A centuiT of life
As the sunset approaches
With its soft golden gleams
No shadow will darken
But to us it just seems
That a rare precious jewel
Has been loaned for a time
To show us and teach us
That life is sublime.
A poem written by Geo. B. Balch
in memory of Thomas Lincoln may
likewise be read for all the pioneers
of Coles County, Illinois:
In a low, sweet vale, by a murmur-
ing rill,
The pioneer's ashes are sleeping,
Where the white marble slab so
lonely and still,
In silence their vigils are keeping.
On their sad lonely faces are words
of fame,
But noma of them speaks of his
glory;
When the pioneer died, his age and
his name,
No monument whispers the story.
No mystle, nor ivy, nor hyacinth
blows,
O'er the lonely grave where they
laid him;
No cedar, nor holly, nor almond
tree grows
Near the plebian's grave to shade
him.
Bright evergreens wave o'er many a
grave,
O'er some bow the sad weeping
willow;
But no willow tree bow, nor ever-
greens wave
Where the pioneer sleeps on his
pillow.
While some are inhumed with hon-
ors of state,
And laid beneath temples to
moulder.
The grave of the father of Lincoln,
the great,
Is known by a bullock and boul-
der.
Let him take his lone sleep and
quiet rest.
With naught to disturb or awake
him,
When the angels shall come to
gather the blest,
"To Abraham's bosom they'll take
him."
This poem was written and read
by Geo. B. Balch when a shaft was
erected at Thomas Lincoln's grave
at Shiloh Cemetery near Farming -
ton, m., in 1876.
Since then the Lion's Club of the
State of Illinois has erected a
monument for both Thomas and
Sarah Bush Lincoln and the shaft
was placed near the entrance to
the cemetery.
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