A Little Trip into the Past

I spent a week in the Chicago area this month and looked up the house that once had belonged to my great-grandfather Ernest John Andrews, a patent attorney with an office downtown in the Monadnock Building in Chicago. I pulled out a piece he had written in a nostalgic mood after having gone with his wife on a little trip around Illinois and into southern Indiana to visit scenes important to his father and grandfather during their lifetimes. He wrote it for his children, Fred, Roger, Helen Andrews Hinkley, and Glenn, and their cousins, John B., Rex B., Elizabeth Andrews French, Mae B., and Charles Francis Andrews. But I think it may be of interest to more than just his descendants. He is an interesting writer, and as I want to make this information available to all the descendants of Asa Norton, Asa Piper, and Anson Seeley Andrews, here it is.
*********

The Dominions of Our Ancestors

I am sending a copy of this article to each of the grandchildren of my father so that each may have a record, of some portion at least, of the lives of some of their ancestors, not only for their own use, but to preserve and hand down to others.

It is becoming more and more desirable to have sources of information of this nature with reference to our ancestors. There are many who, at some time in their lives, are particularly interested in matters of this nature and they will be unable to obtain much information that this article contains if it is not preserved in some form. Merely as illustrating what I have in mind I will say that, much as I need the money for other uses, yet I would gladly pay a hundred dollars merely for a good photograph of your great grandfather Andrews [Note: In 2015 his $100 would be worth more than $1300]. This is only one little item of my ancestry and yet it shows how highly I would prize the information of this article if I had no other sources for such information.

The article is not intended for pleasant reading; much of it may not be at all interesting and may be omitted. But there are certain portions that no doubt will be of interest and that you will, I think, find well worth a careful consideration. Perhaps a few suggestions will clarify my meaning.

You have all been intimately acquainted with your grandfather Andrews. In a general way, you know of his character and manner of living and his relations to others. This article tells much with reference to his boyhood days, years before you were born, and hence, in a way, it completes your knowledge of his life.

As to your grandfather’s character, if all were as he was, we would have no need for police or jailers, and little need for courts. We would have no need for sumptuary laws. The present controversy over the eighteenth amendment would have no place in our lives. Life perhaps would be too easy, too free from troubles to be good for the race, but certainly it would add much to the satisfaction of living.

While it may not have impressed you particularly, yet one of the strongest impressions that I have of your grandfather Andrews is as to his constant employment at something worthwhile. I have often felt, and even now, looking back over a period of sixty years, I still feel that your grandfather was the hardest working man that I have ever known. Not a drudge, not a slave, but always actively carrying out some useful plan. He took delight in his work and for sixty years or more, I presume he averaged at least ten or twelve hours a day, mainly at manual work, not excepting Sundays. While on Sundays he changed his work, more or less, from his vocation to his avocations, yet he was always usefully engaged.

He was always looking to the future, planning and building for that which was to come.

I should like to have you know of these things and to know something of your great grandfather Andrews, particularly some of the facts contained in this article. He was very much like your grandfather.

I am sure there is nothing more stabilizing in our lives than such knowledge as this. Not that any of you need stabilizing particularly, but there often come times in our lives when we need, in order to give to the world the best that is in us, the stabilizing effect that comes from the knowledge of a long line of worthy ancestors. And this I would like you to have.

****** ****** ****** ******

Ernest John Andrews' home in Lombard, Illinois,
from April 1913 through April 1939. Afterward,
Helen Andrews Hinkley owned this home.

On October 9, 1927, your mother and I started on our trip to Crawford County, Illinois, where many of your ancestors lived, and to Posey County, Indiana, where others lived. We drove down the Dixie Highway to Paris, Illinois the first day, and stayed all night at the Cherry Croft house, just beyond the center of Paris where the Dixie Highway turns to the east.

The next morning we drove down to Robinson, the County Seat of Crawford County, where we stopped several hours while I searched the records of the county court and circuit court for deeds, wills, and the like.

[I omitted the table of records that he found; if anyone wants it, let me know!]

Of these parties, Asa Norton was your great great grandfather and Thoda and Reuben Norton were his brothers. Polly Norton as his wife. Her maiden name was Mary Belknap. L.D. Norton was Asa Norton’s son. Benjamin Norton was Asa’s nephew. Beverly Bradley Piper was Asa’s son-in-law (your grandmother’s father). Sally, the wife of Avery Tobey referred to, was Asa Norton’s sister, and Sewell Goodridge was the husband of Asa’s sister Lydia, while William N. Norton was Asa’s son (your grandmother’s uncle).

I was unable to complete my search at Robinson owing to the closing of the offices and a further search should be made to obtain records of the entry of the land of Asa Norton in 1819. Apparently, these entries were not recorded during the period that I searched, but they were undoubtedly recorded later as the law requires such records in order to give good title to the land. Also, copies of more important deeds should be examined for interesting facts. These papers were very voluminous. I expected to be able to complete this work on the return trip but failed to do so.

We left Robinson about noon and went straight east some eight miles to Palestine, where about 1815 a fort was built as a protection against the Indians. Palestine was the old county seat of Crawford County. Then, leaving the southeast corner of Palestine across a bridge, we rode to Heathville, some twelve miles away. Heathville was the town of these Nortons and Pipers in those early days and is now the nearest town of what I have called our Ancestral Dominions of Crawford County. The road to Heathville from Palestine is also the road to Russellville, some eight miles further on, and it was a well travelled road, but neither paved nor well graded, at least during portions of the way. The surrounding country was largely clay soil and poor farm land, much of it being covered with underbrush and used for pasture. It is no such land as is to be found in northern Illinois.

At Heathville we inquired of the only store as to where the Nortons lived. The grandchildren are still living on the old Norton farm that was entered in 1819. I was referred to the neighboring garage with the statement that William N. Norton, whose house we were seeking, drove by not long before to the garage. I inquired at the garage and was directed to the Norton house and was told that William Norton had left but a short time before and that we would probably overtake him. Never having seen Mr. Norton, we carefully scrutinized the cars as we drove along. We overtook none that seemed to be Mr. Norton’s, though we did pass a man who was walking, whom we afterwards found out was Mr. Norton. Owing to the failure of the garage man to tell us that he was then working on Mr. Norton’s car and that Mr. Norton was walking home, we passed him just outside of Heathville and he was obliged to walk over two miles home when we should have been delighted to take him in our car. This merely goes to show how a little clarity smoothes life’s pathway.

We drove about two miles south from Heathville on the Russellville road and then turned west on a dirt road, and a quarter mile further, struck a little bridge and the lane leading to the north up to Mr. Norton’s house. We drove up a very steep hill to the house and met Mrs. Norton, who informed us that the old Asa Norton house was on the other side of the road. So we drove back and up another steep hill just south of the bridge and south of William Norton’s house to the house now occupied by Horace B. Norton, where we met him and his wife.

It was on this hill that Asa Norton built his house over one hundred years ago. This house was burned before 1888 and on the old foundation a new house was built, and it is here that Asa’s grandson Horace now lives. The old barns also were all gone. But the hills still remain. The Norton house was perched high up on a hill because, while on his way to this locality, Asa found the country along the Wabash River flooded and all of the low land covered with water; to avoid such floods he built his house on a high hill.

It was here that your great great grandfather fought his battle with nature as a farmer; it was here also that he was a member of the State Legislature and a Justice of the Peace; and it is here that his descendants have been since. It was in this neighborhood too, that Asa’s daughter Delia Deborah Norton, your great grandmother, married your great grandfather Beverly Bradley Piper, and it was here that she spent substantially all of her life as she was only three years old in 1817 when Asa Norton moved his family from Norwich, New York, finally arriving in Crawford County in 1819.

It was here also that your grandmother Andrews spent some of the most joyful years of her life, and where her grandfather, Asa Piper, also settled on a farm a century ago. His farm and house were just southeast of the corner where we turned from the Russellville road to the Norton place. It was here, too, that your grandmother’s father was raised, and in later years, after he was married to Delia Deborah Norton, their farm adjoined on the west that of her father, Asa Norton. Your grandmother Andrews not only lived there during a part of her childhood days, but in after years she often visited at her grandfather Asa Norton’s place, until the time she and your grandfather moved to Rockford, Illinois, in 1861.

We spent the afternoon with William and Horace Norton and their wives. We went down into the old Asa Norton basement and saw the old walls that were built by him over a hundred years ago. That is all of his handiwork that is left. But in the house is an old clock still going that was saved from the fire. And there is an old life-sized painting of Asa Norton, painted before he left for the west in 1817. He was certainly a fine looking man, and dressed in the frills of those days, he far surpasses any of you so far as elegance in clothes is concerned. The picture was injured by the fire, but was restored.

We went back to William Norton’s house, up on the hill across the road, and went northwest over to the old cemetery on Asa Norton’s farm. Here lie buried Asa Norton and his wife Mary Belknap, his son Wellington Bertolf Norton, his brother Thoda Norton, his son William N. Norton, and his daughter Mirinda Norton Parker, after whom your grandmother, Mirinda Parker’s niece, was named, and many others. Asa Norton’s grave bears no stone. It was his own wish that his grave be unmarked. The place, however, is marked sufficiently for recognition, lying immediately north of his wife’s grave. On her stone is the inscription, “Mary, wife of Asa Norton, died March 18, 1850, age 69 yrs, 6 ms, and 17 dys.” She was born in 1780. Asa Norton was born in 1781 and his wife was born the year before. This, I understand, was a sensitive point for your great great grandfather, to be a year younger than his wife. He was a very dignified man, straight as an arrow, having been a soldier for many years. Presumably it detracted from his idea of dignity to have a wife who was older than himself. A large cedar tree grows over the grave of Mary Norton, a tree perhaps seventy-five years old.

From the cemetery, we went back to the house and drove west on the road about a quarter of a mile to the corner, and then turned north and went by a schoolhouse, where once was located the old log schoolhouse that was also used as the church of the Pipers and the Nortons. The log building is gone now. But it was here that your great grandfather Beverly Bradley Piper gained his secular and religious training and where he was converted and where he preached, probably, for the first time.

It was here too, that Andrew Jackson Norton attended school and church and was converted and preached. Andrew Jackson Norton was a nephew of Asa Norton, and for fifty years he preached as a Predestinarian Baptist all over Illinois and Iowa. I have a copy of his diary in which he tells how he was converted from an aimless, drifting boy to an intense Fundamentalist, and how he spent all of his days preaching the gospel without pay other than as his parishioners produced. His account of his conversion is the most illuminating description of this nature that I have ever seen, probably because it is sincere and he seeks to tell the facts just as he experienced them. His soul was gripped by the horrors of Hell which were as real and vivid to him as is our conception of each coming day. He was an ignorant man, with practically no education except what he obtained at home, but he was sincere and intense and was firmly convinced of the literal truth of the Bible from the first page to the last. Much as we may disagree with the beliefs of such men as this, yet in their days they were needed and we must not only have for them great admiration, but must feel that it is owing much to them that our country is now blessed with the great masses of men and women whose characters can withstand the pressure of modern life.

It was in this schoolhouse also that Andrew Jackson Norton was married in 1839 by the Justice of the Peace, Asa Norton. And it was here that your great grandfather and great grandmother Piper were married in 1833 by the same Justice. So it was that this old log schoolhouse witnessed some of the most important events of our ancestors’ lives.

From the schoolhouse we went a quarter of a mile north and turned at right angles east, where within a half a mile we struck a right angled bend in the road to the north. Just to the right of this bend was an old house built by Sewell Goodridge and his wife, over a hundred years ago. Sewell Goodridge’s wife Lydia was a sister of Asa Norton, and hence, your grandmother’s great aunt. It was in and around this house that many of the happiest hours of your grandmother’s life were spent. The house is now occupied by an old bachelor, and as was to be expected, was in disorder and decay. The building itself is run down and uncared for, and the interior was dreary indeed. But as we entered the north front door, on the opposite wall we saw, in a niche in the wall built for the purpose at the time the house was built, a large cuckoo clock. There, for over one hundred years, this old cuckoo clock has stood, six feet or more high and a foot or more wide, running by weights over pulleys, and still running correctly. But the cuckoo is dead. This clock was a familiar and interesting sight to your grandmother.

To the left of this was the old china closet in which Lydia Goodridge kept many valuable dishes, about which I have often heard your grandmother speak. In the next room, the parlor, was another old clock that is thought to be nearly a hundred years old, standing on the mantle, two or three feet high and a foot or more wide. There were two fireplaces back-to-back in the wall between the two rooms. In the southwest corner of the parlor was another large cabinet, empty now but presumably in those early days containing valuable clothing, dishes, and the like.

Having heard so much about priceless articles and papers found in old buildings such as this, we ventured up into the attic. But the attic was nearly vacant; the floor seemed to be covered an inch thick with dust and old scraps of paper, and there was nothing to indicate any hidden treasures. We left with the thought that poor Aunt Lydia, the aristocrat of the Norton family, would have turned in her grave if she could have known of the condition of her beloved home.

It was in this old house that Andrew Jackson Norton spent his youth. His father, Benjamin Norton, was Asa’s older brother. Benjamin’s wife died in 1819 and he married again in 1823 when Andrew Jackson was five years old. In the meantime Benjamin’s other children were scattered. At the time of his wife’s death, five children were living, four boys and one girl, and seven were dead. Three boys died in accidents—one a knife entered his brain, one drowned, and one was scalded to death. Andrew Jackson went to live with his Aunt Lydia Goodridge who had no children of her own. He lived with this aunt and uncle until of age; he married while living there and afterwards built a house of his own not far away. He married Miss Mary Jeffers on December 19, 1839.

Going on, then, beyond the bend in the road to the north about one hundred rods, we struck the Hagan house where Sally Tobey Hagan and her husband live. Sally Tobey Hagan is the granddaughter of Avery Tobey and his wife, Sally Norton. Sally Norton was Asa Norton’s younger sister, nineteen years younger than he and a year or two younger than their sister, Lydia Goodridge.

The old house built by Avery and Sally Tobey was still standing, but had been moved to the back end of the lot and was a wreck, all ready to fall to pieces. We did not visit the old Tobey graveyard that is on the Tobey farm, as our time was limited, but I shall certainly one of these days visit this cemetery where good old Aunt Lydia and Aunt Sally and other kindred are buried.

Away off to the northeast from this Tobey house we could see the houses that mark the places where Andrew Jackson Norton had built his log cabin when first married, and nearer, where his Uncle Thoda Norton lived, and where his cousin Louis D. Norton lived.

From this old Norton headquarters we drove down the east-west road to the north-south Russellville road and passed the old Asa Piper farm on the east and down to Russellville, about six miles away. Here we stopped at the store of D.T. Beckes. He is the husband of Edna, daughter of Horace B. Norton. Mr. Beckes was not at the store, but we were directed to the Beckes house, which was built by Horace B. Norton and is the finest house in Russellville. Here we met Edna and she showed us the deed of Andrew Jackson, President of the United States, to William Noble Norton, Edna’s grandfather, dated September 1, 1834, conveying the west half of the northeast quarter of Section nineteen, Township five, north of range ten west, Palestine, containing eighty acres. This is the deed of the old farm entered by Asa Norton in 1819.

From Russellville we drove some ten miles southeast to the Wabash River and down the river several miles to the Vincennes bridge where we crossed over to Vincennes, Indiana, and spent the night. In Vincennes the following morning, we passed the location of the old Sackville Fort, later known as Fort Vincennes, and from there we went south to Evansville, Indiana, on the Ohio River. From here we went west some twenty-five miles to Mt. Vernon, Posey County, Indiana.

Then we were in the neighborhood of your grandfather Andrews’ early home. It was in Mt. Vernon that he attended school and his father’s farm was three miles straight north. I went over to the court house and obtained copies of the following records:

“John Quincy Adams, President of the United States of America. To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting.
“Know ye that, John Andrews of New York, having deposited in the general land office a certificate of the Register of the land office at Vincennes in Indiana,
“Whereby, it appears that full payment has been made for the West one-half of the NorthWest quarter of Section Twenty-Nine in Township Six of range Thirteen west, containing eighty acres of land directed to be sold at Vincennes by the act of Congress entitled An Act providing for the sale of the lands of the United States in the Territory Northwest of the Ohio, and above the mouth of the Kentucky River, unto the said John Andrews and his heirs the half of the quarter lot or section of land above described.
“To have and to hold the said half of the quarter lot or section of land, with the appurtenances, unto the said John Andrews, his heirs and assigns forever.
“In testimony whereof, I have caused these letters to be made Patent, and the seal of the general land office to be hereunto affixed. Given under my hand at the City of Washington, the Seventh day of February in the year of our Lord, one thousand, eight hundred and twenty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the fifty-second.
“By the President (John Quincy Adams)”
(SEAL)

“James Monroe to Anson S. Andrews of New York.
“SW ¼, Sec. 20, Twsp. 6, Range 13 W, 160 Acres.
“James Monroe, President of the United States of America.
“To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting.
“Know ye that, Anson S. Andrews of New York, having deposited in the general land office a certificate of the Register of the land office at Vincennes in Indiana,
“Whereby it appears that full payment has been made for the SouthWest quarter of Section Twenty in Township Six, South of Range Thirteen West, containing one hundred and sixty acres of the land directed to be sold at Vincennes by the act of Congress entitled An Act providing for the sale of the lands of the United States, in the Territory Northwest of the Ohio, and above the mouth of the Kentucky River, unto the said Anson S. Andrews and his heirs the quarter lot or section of land above described.
“To have and to hold the said quarter lot or section of land with the appurtenances, unto the said Anson S. Andrews, his heirs and assigns forever.
“In testimony whereof, I have caused these letters to be made Patent, and the seal of the general land office to be hereunto affixed. Given under my hand at the City of Washington, the twenty-fifth day of August in the year of our Lord, one thousand, eight hundred and twenty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the forty-eighth.
“By the President (James Monroe)”
(SEAL)

“James Monroe to Anson S. Andrews of New York City.
“E ½, SE ¼, Sec. 19, Twsp. 6, Range 13 W, 80 acres.
“James Monroe, President of the United States of America.
“To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting.
“Know ye that, Anson S. Andrews of New York, having deposited in the general land office a certificate of the Register of the land office at Vincennes in Indiana,
“Whereby it appears that full payment has been made for the East one-half of the SouthEast quarter of Section Nineteen in Township six, Range 13 West, containing eighty acres of the land directed to be sold at Vincennes by the act of Congress entitled An Act providing for the sale of the lands of the United States, in the Territory Northwest of the Ohio, and above the mouth of the Kentucky River, unto the said Anson S. Andrews the quarter lot or section of land above described. “To have and to hold the said quarter lot or section of land with the appurtenances, unto the said Anson S. Andrews, his heirs and assigns forever.
“In testimony whereof, I have caused these letters to be made Patent, and the seal of the general land office to be hereunto affixed. Given under my hand at the City of Washington, the twenty-Fifth day of July in the year of our Lord, one thousand, eight hundred and twenty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the forty-eighth. “By the President (James Monroe)”
(SEAL)


W I L L
Recorded in Book T of Deeds
page 723
“Anson S. Andrews of Black Township in the County of Posey and State of Indiana, do ordain and appoint this my last will and testament in manner and form following.
“That is to say, on this first day of March in the year of our Lord One Thousand, Eight Hundred and Fifty-two,
“To which I have set my hand and affixed my seal binding my heirs and assigns forever.
“I give a bequeath my farm on which I am now residing together with all the rents, profits and benefits arising therefrom to my beloved wife, Elizabeth Andrews.
“To have, hold and enjoy the same for and during the term of her natural life. I also give and bequeath to her, my said wife, all my farm stock, to wit: my neat cattle, horses, sheep and hogs, farming tools and utensils, farm produce, household goods and furniture, and one thousand ($1000) dollars out of my personal estate and effects; my books and other printed matter to be divided equally share and share alike between my wife and children.
“At the death of my beloved wife, I give and bequeath my said farm together with all the rents and profits thereof to my two dear sons, John and Seth, to be equally divided between them share and share alike, or held jointly as they may elect; to be held and possessed by them and their heirs and assigns forever.
“I give and bequeath to my dear daughter Harriet the piece of land I lately bought of John Vanway and described in the deed from him and his wife to me, to be held and possessed by her and her heirs and assigns forever. I also give and bequeath to her Two Thousand, One Hundred Dollars ($2100) out of my personal estate, this she is to receive in such kind or kinds of property that she shall sustain no loss or damage whatever.
“After my debts and all just demands against my estate are settled and paid, I will and direct that the balance and remainder thereof be equally divided share and share alike between my said children. And I do hereby appoint my said wife Elizabeth my executrix and my friends, Anson S. Osborne and Ebenezer Ellis, my executors of this my last will and testament. And I do hereby direct that fifty ($50) dollars be paid to each of my executors out of my estate as a compensation for their services.
“In witness whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name and affixed my seal the day and date first above written.
“(Anson S. Andrews) (SEAL)
“Signed, sealed, published and delivered by the said Anson S. Andrews as and for his last will and testament, in the presence of us who at the request of said Anson S. Andrews and in the presence of each other have hereunto subscribed our names as witnesses.
“(John W. Bishop)
“(Otis Hinkley) (SEAL)
“Recorded November 4, 1854”

[There followed another table of deeds recorded in Mt. Vernon, Indiana, in Black Township. I will be happy to send the table to anyone who asks.]

Of these parties, Anson S. Andrews is your great grandfather; John Andrews is his father, your great great grandfather. He never came out west but lived at Bethel, Connecticut. The Hinkley referred to Otis Hinkley, Wilmer’s great grandfather, who lived at New Harmony, Indiana, twelve miles north of the Andrews farm, and James Hinkley is his son who married Anson S. Andrews’ daughter Harriet. This is the first connection between Helen and Wilmer Hinkley. Anson Seeley Andrews is the great grandfather of both of them. Anson Seeley Osborne was a nephew of Anson Seeley Andrews and lived with him during much of his youth. Beverly Bradley Piper was your great grandfather who lived also in the Norton neighborhood in Crawford County. Elizabeth Andrews was Anson Andrews’ wife and your great grandmother. The et. al. referred to in the Elizabeth Andrews deed was your grandfather Andrews and his brother Seth and his sister Harriet Hinkley.

The search of records at Mt. Vernon was substantially complete but it would be desirable to obtain copies of more of the deeds. For instance, the deed of Elizabeth Andrews et. al., to Worthington Bois, and the deed of John Andrews et. al., to James Acuff. The former deed conveyed the old Anson S. Andrews farm, and the latter deed conveyed the land on which the old mill stood.

There should be a search made to determine the disposition of the land transferred to Anson S. Andrews by Honduras D. Johnson and John T. McKee. The Vanway farm was willed by Anson S. Andrews to his daughter, Harriet Hinkley.

From Mt. Vernon we drove north fifteen miles to New Harmony. The road ran through Farmersville where the Andrews farm was located. As we drove by, I was able to point out to your mother a large number of landmarks from descriptions given me by your grandfather. For instance, the location of the old farm and the farm house and the store and the mill and the schoolhouse and the Baptist church and the old graveyard and other places. But we did not stop.

We reached New Harmony in the evening and went to the house of Julia E. Dransfield, a daughter of Anson S. Osborne and, hence, second cousin of your grandfather Andrews. She lives in the old Otis Hinkley house where Wilmer’s great grandfather lived.

We stayed at New Harmony and vicinity for two days and had a very pleasant visit with Cousin Julia and her adopted daughter, Mary Donald, and Mary’s husband who is the dentist in New Harmony. I cannot here go into the many interesting features of New Harmony. Although having a population of less than one thousand, it is one of the most noted towns in the world from both a scientific and sociological point of view. I have several pamphlets relating to the various interesting features of this town. But that has nothing to do with our Ancestral Dominions. Suffice it to say that we were much pleased not only with the reception given us by our hosts and others, but also by the various buildings and collections and the like which we visited.

With our hosts, we drove down to Farmersville where for thirty-six years your great grandfather was the principal man of the neighborhood. He established the town of Farmersville, or what for a time was known as the “Corners,” by entering with the United States government a section of land surrounding the Corners, being where two main east/west and north/south roads crossed. Of this land, he entered for his own use 320 acres, and the rest was taken up by friends who settled there with him at about the same time.

On our way to Farmersville from New Harmony, we stopped at the old Moore’s Hill Cemetery, about a mile north of the old Andrews farm, on the same side of the road. Here your great grandfather was buried. After some searching, we found his lot in the northwest corner of the cemetery, in the north tier of lots and one tier next to the west. The stone slab was lying on the ground, and adjacent to it was a little stone. The slab bore the inscription, “Anson S. Andrews, died September 28, 1854, in the 69 year of his age.” Having heard that the slab had fallen, I had brought with me a spade, and I dug down and found the pedestal on which the slab had been originally mounted. This pedestal had sunk in the ground over a foot deep and the slab had been broken off flush with the upper surface of the pedestal. I cleaned the broken pieces out of the groove in the pedestal and restored the slab, then straightened out the little stone nearby that bore the inscription, “Ann, daughter of A.S. and E. Andrews, died July 17, 1832, age 2 yr, 11 ms, 8 dys.”

The Andrews grave markers in 2001. They have since been
set into flat concrete frames to preserve them from further decay.

As I stood at my grandfather’s grave that afternoon, I could picture in my mind’s eye the Andrews line, coming over from England in 1633 and slowly drifting westward—from Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Glenn now lives, to Connecticut; from Hartford to Farmington, then to Waterbury, then Danbury; and from there, Anson S. Andrews as a young man went out by himself west to New York state, and thence to Farmersville, Indiana, where his body now lies by the side of his infant daughter. But the line went on, west to southern Illinois, north to northern Illinois and Wisconsin, and with it went his wife who now lies in the old West Side Cemetery in Rockford, Illinois, and beside her lies their son John, your grandfather. And so it goes, from one generation to the next, ever onward, always seeking something better, and usually finding it, leaving many by the wayside in lonely graves.

From the cemetery we went south to the old Corners, and then a quarter of a mile west past the location of the old schoolhouse where your grandfather first went to school and where he first met your grandmother, to the location of the old Baptist church where your great grandfather Piper preached from 1850 to 1853 and where your grandmother attended church and Sunday school as a girl of ten to thirteen. I cannot say that your grandfather and great grandfather attended this church. Your great grandmother Andrews attended church about half a mile west of this on the same side of the east/west road in what was known as the Christian or Campbellite church. But your great grandfather was not a member of any church. Undoubtedly, he and the children more or less attended his wife’s church, and perhaps the Baptist church. But neither he nor his son John, your grandfather, nor his daughter Harriet, nor her husband James Hinkley, nor his father, were orthodox. Seth, the second son of A.S. Andrews, in time joined the church and was one of the staunch members until he died. The present church was built in 1896 on the foundation of the old church of a century ago.

Just across the road north from the church we drove into the lane to the Andrews farmyard and to where the old house had stood. Your grandfather had told me that the house and barns were all burned, he believed, as well as the store and the mill. However, I was delighted to find the old red brick barn still standing. This is a large barn, two stories and a basement, about 60 feet long and 30 feet wide, a magnificent monument to your great grandfather. A photograph of the rear of the barn is attached. The barn was built in 1844 of red bricks made from the clay of the old farm, the brick kiln being located near the barn. Your great grandfather made bricks at that time, which he sold to others, and he built this barn, and an addition to his house, and a sidewalk leading from the house towards the barn, and he lined a dug well with the bricks. The old brick foundation of the house and the sidewalk and the well still remain, but the addition itself has disappeared. Also, the old shop and other sheds and another large barn which were there in the early days have all disappeared, being replaced by other buildings.

Rear view, taken in October 1927, of red brick barn at Farmersville, Indiana,
built in 1844 for Anson Seeley Andrews with bricks made on his farm.
The barn is located about 200 feet west of where the old Andrews’ house is located.

The farm is now owned by Ensley Trafford and his wife. His wife is a great granddaughter of Elisha Phillips, who was one of the settlers there with your great grandfather and who took an eighty acre piece of the original section taken up by your great grandfather. In a talk with Mrs. Trafford, she suggested that I would be interested in calling on John Dave Ellis, who lived half a mile straight south, as he was one of the oldest settlers and would no doubt remember much of interest. We drove over to Mr. Ellis’s house and found him at home and had a very pleasant and interesting conversation with him. He is a typical old farmer of 87 years of age, old enough to be much interested in those early times. Upon meeting him, I asked if he remembered Anson Seeley Andrews. He said that he certainly did and he remembered John Andrews and Mirinda Piper and that John had married Mirinda. When I told him that they were my parents he was much interested and shook my hand warmly and went on to tell about the old times.

Among other things, he said that Anson Andrews was one of the finest men that was ever known in those parts, and he cited several instances of things your great grandfather had done to help establish and develop the neighborhood and to assist others in getting a start. One instance was that Mr. Andrews told a neighbor that he ought to buy a certain farm and the neighbor said that he knew it but didn’t have the money. Your great grandfather said that he had the money and would let his neighbor have it and would charge no interest and wouldn’t ask him for payment. I presume, however, that he knew the man well enough to know that the money would be repaid whether he asked for it or not. Also, I think that John Dave Ellis was inclined to exaggerate a little. Among other things, he stated that Anson Andrews was a very loud talker; that he was pretty deaf during the later years of his life and talked loud enough apparently to hear himself. John Dave’s house was nearly half a mile away from the Andrews house, and yet, John Dave said that he often heard Mr. Andrews talking to his men around the barn when John himself was at home. But in spite of any tendency to exaggerate, it was pleasant to hear these statements made by a neighbor who knew your great grandfather in his lifetime and undoubtedly had heard much about him from other neighbors since his death. John Dave was only fourteen years old when your great grandfather died, so much of his knowledge must have come from older friends and neighbors.

Another thing that John Dave said was that the old Baptist church, located about midway between his house and the old Andrews house, had been cut in two in 1896, when the new one was built, and all of it had been moved onto the Andrews farm; one half of it immediately across the road, and the other half moved onto the old Andrews house foundation and still stood there. This was very interesting news as this was another joining of the Piper and Andrews families; the old church from which your great grandfather Piper so often preached had been moved to the Andrews farm and a portion of it had replaced the old Andrews house.

Front view, taken in October 1927, of the house then standing at Farmersville,
Indiana, on the foundation of the house built by Anson Seeley Andrews about 1830.

In view of this, we drove back to the Andrews house and found that, as he had said, the front part of the old church was on the old foundation. This was clearly indicated by the building itself, the rear portion of the house showing evident signs of having been the front of an old church. The attached picture shows the front wall of the house, built in 1896. While we were there examining the house, the lady living in it called my attention to the old well immediately north of the house, and to the old brick foundation, and to the sidewalk, and we also gave some further consideration to the old brick barn.

This brick barn has a charm for me. It seems to be typical of your great grandfather Andrews. It is typical of the solid basis upon which he always seemed to build. In his younger days he broke away from a rather worn-out New England and went to New York state, and some years later, moved further west to establish himself in a new community. He was laying a foundation for the future; not drifting along as so many do, but planning years ahead; not shirking and taking the easy path, but seeking to mold nature to the benefit of himself, his family, his neighbors, and those who were to come. Many of the glimpses that I have obtained of him by my researches and by talks with his son and others who knew him in life lead me to believe that this was strongly typical of the man, a determination to live his life in a way that would be a benefit to himself and others, building a solid foundation for his life work and for each step in that work. He established a community for himself and for others. He developed a brick kiln and a store and a mill for himself and others, all much needed in that wild western country, and he laid a mental foundation for his children and for those of his neighbors. A school building was the first building that was built at the Corners; he and others sought to establish a seminary there too, which was finally located three miles away at Mt. Vernon. As John Dave Ellis said, he provided money not only for himself, but for others. I have his books showing thousands of dollars loaned out to others. In fact, he did substantially a banking business for the community, the basis for it all carved out of the soil.

A solid basis for life is typical, in general, of the Andrews line. I have gone back some three hundred years and have carefully studied the line and find no exceptions to this. All were solid, substantial, sane men and women. They all built for the future, not for the next world of which they knew nothing, but for this world, doing the best they could to get the most out of the only life of which they could know.

We then drove down to Mt. Vernon and called on two of the granddaughters of Anson Seeley Osborne. They were Rosamond and Esther Osborne, daughters of Lemuel T. Osborne. Esther, now Mrs. Lyman Strack, gave me the deed drawn by your great grandfather and signed by him and your great grandmother, the print of which is attached.

Deed handwritten by Anson S. Andrews, properly acknowledged by him and his wife.

“This indenture made the twentieth day of August in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and forty five between Anson S. Andrews and Elizabeth Andrews his wife of the township of Black in Posey County and State of Indiana of the first part and Anson S. Osborn of the same place of the second part witnesseth that the said parties of the first part for and in consideration of the sum of three hundred dollars to them duly paid have sold and by these presents do re—i.e., release and forever quit claim unto the said Anson S. Osborn all rights, title, interest, claim and demand whatever which we the releasers have or ought to have in or to one tract of land described and dessignated [sic] as the West half of the North West quarter of Section Number twenty nine of Township Number Six South and Range number thirteen west and lying in the county of Posey and State of Indiana aforesaid — To have and to hold the premises with all their appurtenances unto the said releaser his heirs and assigns forever so that neither we the said releasers nor our heirs nor any other person under us or them shall hereafter have any claim, right or title in or to the premises or any part thereof—but thereupon we and they are by these presents forever bared [sic] and secluded.
“In Witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals the day and date above written
“Signed, Seald and delivered
“In presence of Anson S. Andrews (SEAL)
Elizabeth Andrews (SEAL)”

We also saw Lemuel T. Osborne, the father, for a few moments, and called on Matthew Nelson who lived a block away and who knew much of the early life of your ancestors. His opinion of your great grandfather was much like that of John Dave Ellis, and as he was born after your great grandfather’s death, this opinion was derived entirely from friends and neighbors, and particularly from his father. His father, Turner Nelson, was something of a politician and for many years was the County Recorder of Mt. Vernon. Also, he owned a large farm in the early days adjacent to Farmersville, and of this he sold some sixty acres to your great grandfather Piper, and was the nearest neighbor to Mr. Piper when he was there.

While in Mt. Vernon, we looked up the old seminary where your grandfather Andrews went to school. The building was built in 1841 and is still used for the same general purpose. It is a very substantial-looking brick building and must have been the pride of the town in those early days. Your grandfather started school in Mt. Vernon in an old one-room building “packed full with scholars,” but the new “Seminary” was then being built and as soon as it was finished, your grandfather entered it.

The next day we started towards home but stopped in Lawrenceville, the county seat of Lawrence County, Illinois, where I found records of deeds relating to various Norton relatives . . .

[If anyone wants the table of these deeds for Lawrence County, leave me a note and I will send them.]

From Lawrenceville we went again to Vincennes, Indiana. I looked for records of early deeds there but found only the following: “Grantor Asa Norton; Grantee Barrois Francois; Book DD; Page 327; Comments: Dated February 11, 1826. ¼ of lot 64 in Borough of Vincennes. $45. Sam'l Dillworth, recorder. Vige St.”

From Vincennes we drove to Paris, Illinois, and stayed all night again at the Cherry Croft house, and the next morning, Saturday, October 15, 1927, we arrived home.

Ernest John Andrews
Chicago, November 21, 1927

Memoirs of Mirinda Piper Andrews: Married Life 1858 - 1872

Mirinda Piper married John Andrews on September 21, 1858 in Lincoln, Logan County, Illinois. Her father was Beverly Bradley Piper and her mother Delia Deborah Norton Piper. Mirinda was their oldest living child; she had younger siblings Asa Almon Piper, Charles Beverly Piper, and Anne Eliza Piper. Her husband was also the oldest living child in his family; his siblings were Harriet and Seth. Previous chapters of Mirinda’s memoirs have been published on this blog; this one comprises the period of her marriage through the early 1870s.

[1858]

In June John Andrews came again, and on the 21st of September we were married. The ceremony was performed by Mr. Moore, an old Baptist preacher long since dead. We went to live at the old Andrews place with John’s mother and brother Seth. Grandpa Norton was visiting at Father’s at the same time and left when we did; he was to stop at Vincennes, Indiana, but concluded to go on to Evansville with us. It was the last time I saw him; he died the next year at the age of 78. We spent one day at Vincennes, arrived at Farmersville in the night and were met by Seth and James and Harriet Hinkley (they had been married two years before). They brought carriages to take us home in, so the next morning we started for a twenty-mile ride. The day was pleasant and everything lovely. We arrived in time for dinner.

Mother Andrews

The Andrews family consisted of Mother, Seth, and an adopted daughter named Ellen Hall, who was a very pretty young girl about 14 years old. Also there was a cousin of John’s, a maiden lady named Sophronia Phillips staying with the family temporarily^[i]. (Old Mr. Andrews had died in 1854).

From this time on, my life was entirely changed, and my memories will be more of the Andrews family than the Pipers. I met a few of my old acquaintances, but not many, as I was too happy at home to go around much, and the family I had married into were a hard-working, quiet, stay-at-home people, and I did as near like them as I could.

In October Mother Andrews and Seth went to Genesee, Wisconsin, to visit some relatives, and they were so delighted with the place that they bought a farm with the intention of going there to reside in the spring. Miss Phillips stayed with us through the winter. James and Harriet lived on an adjoining farm. They had a year-old son named Anson. During the winter John sold their old home to a Mr. Bois (I think his name was but I am not certain). Seth was very anxious to sell in order to move to Wisconsin. John did not want to sell, but as his Mother sided with Seth he could not resist the pressure. It was an epoch in their lives, as they had always lived there, and all the children were born in the same house.

l859

We had agreed to give possession March 1st. In February Mother Andrews and Ellen Hall were both taken very sick with typhoid fever. There was to be a sale, and they were removed to Harriet’s, and by the 1st of March [they] were able to sit up. As soon as the sale was over and things were straightened out, John and I left for a visit to Father’s, who still lived near Lincoln, Illinois. Two years before this, James Hinkley and John Andrews bought in partnership a farm of 160 acres in Washington County, Illinois, on the Illinois Central Railroad, and planted it out with apple trees. They had a tenant on the place, and we went around that way to see how things were getting along. We went down the Ohio River in a steamboat to Cairo, Illinois. We had a very rough trip; the wind blew so hard that the boat had to anchor for twelve hours. Some of the passengers, myself among the rest, were quite sea-sick, or river sick. We spent one night in Cairo, then went up the Illinois Central Railroad to Dubois, the station near our orchard, took dinner with the tenant, and arrived at Father’s the next evening. Found them all well and delighted to see us.

We had decided to live at the orchard a year or two before we settled down for good, so John stayed one week at Father’s and then went back to build us a house. Harriet and James were to live there, too. I was dreadfully unhappy to have him leave me, and although my relatives were so kind grew worse. I was to stay ‘til he finished the house, but at the end of three weeks was too homesick [and] would not stay any longer. Father was very much put out about it, and he said I had lived with them 18 years and got along very well but now could not stay six weeks. But he went to Bloomington with me, and John met me at Centralia, so I did not have to change cars alone. We had to board two weeks with Mrs. Finch, our tenant’s wife, but I did not care, I was with my husband and that was all I wanted.

As soon as the new house was fit to move into, James and Harriet came and they had two rooms and we had two. How I enjoyed my new home. There is nothing quite so delightful to a young married woman as her first housekeeping experience. My housework was light, and I did not get tired or lonesome. Sometime that summer James and Harriet went back to their old home in Indiana and were gone two weeks. When they came back they brought James’ niece Eliza Oatsman with them, a sixteen-year-old young lady who lived with them ‘til she married.

I wanted Mother to come and visit us that summer, but she wrote she could not leave her family but we had better come to Lincoln, which we did about the 2^nd of August, and stayed about five weeks. The 8^th of September our little boy was born. We named him Charles Norton. Is there anything sweeter than the first baby? He was the first grandchild too in the Piper family. How they all did dote on him and hated to have us take him away, but when he was three weeks old we went home to Dubois. (This month Grandpa Norton died, aged about 78.)

James and Harriet met us at the depot and were glad to have us home again. Mother Andrews and Seth came down from Wisconsin and stayed a few weeks with us. We had quite an influx of visitors that fall. Clark Butler came, but I did not see him as he was there while we were at Lincoln. Anson Osborn and wife came from Indiana. There was an old Uncle and Aunt of John’s made us a short visit from Ohio, but I have forgotten their names, they died a few years after. The winter passed quickly and happily, my baby was very good and to my eyes beautiful. My housework was light, as there were only three of us in the family and two rooms to keep clean.

1860

This is an historical year, but there are plenty of accounts of it, so I won’t make the attempt. In March John, Baby and I went to Lincoln for a visit; we stayed at Father’s two weeks, then went up to Wisconsin to visit Mother Andrews. We had a very pleasant time as the neighbors invited us out to dinners and teas, so that we were going or entertaining company during our two weeks stay. Among others we met Miss Sylvia Van Camp, whom Seth married the next June. The 16 of May Harriet’s second child was born, George. The same day Abraham Lincoln was nominated for president by the Republicans.

The summer was very hot and we had a big crop of watermelons. The men used to stop work for two hours during the middle of the day and lie around and eat watermelons. Otis Hinkley spent a few weeks with his brother during the heated term, and he was then in college. Of course there were a great many political meetings held in the county, bur I did not attend but one, that was at Samarco, Perry County, and heard Richard Yates speak, who was afterwards Governor. After Seth and Miss Van Camp were married, Ellen Hall came to live with us and remained with us ‘til she was married nine years after. James’ family, with Eliza and Ellen, went over to Indiana in July for a visit of two weeks. Then I was lonesome, having been used to having so many in the house; it seemed dreary enough as John was out in the field at work early and late.

After they came home James went up to the north part of the state to look for a place to settle down, and he decided on Rockford and bought ten acres of land, made arrangements with a carpenter to build him a house, then came back and made preparations to leave Dubois with his family. They went in October. Mother Andrews came down to spend the winter with us and we had a hired man named Tom Brown. Ellen and I had plenty to do and were not lonesome.

In November Abraham Lincoln was elected president. Then there was mutterings of the great storm which broke on us the next April, but I did not heed it, there never had been a war since my recollection in this country, and I did not think there would be; it seemed impossible that Americans would begin to shoot each other, but you see they did.

About the middle of the month Father wrote me that Mother’s health was very poor, and he did not think she would live long, and they were very anxious that I should come and visit her. Oh how I dreaded to go, but I got ready and started in two days. I hated to leave my husband, dreaded the trip, and feared to find Mother sinking. It was a very miserable journey. I arrived at the station in Lincoln at three in the morning. Of course, there was no one to meet me as they did not know I was coming. I sat in the waiting room ‘til daylight, then took my fifteen-months-old boy in my arms and walked to an old acquaintances about a quarter of a mile away. Stayed there to breakfast, then they took me in a buggy out to Father’s. Much to my delight, I found Mother much better. Stayed two weeks and went home on Thanksgiving day. John met me at Centralia, and my troubles were over for that time.

1861

In January Mother’s health failed rapidly, and she died the 24^th. I received two letters from Father, one stating that she was worse, and one with the sad news of her death. They both came by the same mail. I was glad I had visited her so lately, even if it was a hard trip. Father urged us to come and spend the summer with him as he had no housekeeper, and sister Anne was only twelve years old. I disliked exceedingly the idea of going there to stay with my family, and the result proved that my intuitions were correct. But as we were unsettled we concluded to go.

Mother Andrews went to Seth’s. The orchard was rented to James Longfellow. In March Nellie Hall, baby Charlie and I went to Lincoln. John came several weeks later. May 30^th my second child came, we named him Henry Butler, but his name was soon abbreviated to Harry and remained that ever after. My Aunt Mirinda Parker was with me for several weeks. After that summer I never saw her again. There was a great deal of hard feeling that summer between friends on account of different views of the war, and our family was not exempt. It was the most exciting period the United States ever knew and came very near being the Disunited States.

In July John went up to Rockford to visit James and Harriet Hinkley. While there he bought seven acres of land adjoining James’ piece, located on School Street, and engaged a carpenter to build us a house. He came back to Lincoln, stayed a few days, then went down to Indiana, his old home, to settle up some business affairs. I was 21 the 25th of this month.

In August Father was married again, to Miss Elizabeth K. Landis, a lady we all liked very much, but, of course, we were sorry to have him bring any one to take Mother’s place. But it gave John and me a good excuse to go to Rockford, which we did, starting September 1^st or 2^nd. While in Indiana John had bought a nice horse and top buggy, so shipping our things by railroad, we drove up to Rockford, about 200 miles. The weather was fine, but the first day or two was quite tiresome, as I had to hold my three months old Harry in my arms all the way. We started Monday after dinner and arrived at Rockford Friday morning at 9 o’clock. The Hinkley family seemed very glad to see us, and we were delighted to get there, especially as we were to have a settled home at last. I remember that was the most pleasant idea of the whole trip, we would have a home of our own. But we had to board with the Hinkley family for three months, as our house was not ready to go into ‘til the last of November. From this time on my home has been Rockford, and we could not have struck a more beautiful or satisfactory place in the state.

In October Harriet was sent for to go to Genessee, as Seth’s wife had died and left a three months old babe. She took her two little boys, Anson and George, and left me with the care of the house. I got along very well as Ellen and Eliza helped me mornings and evenings, they both went to school. Harriet was gone a week, and when she came home she brought Mother Andrews and the little babe Sylvia. About that time James’ sister, Ellen Hinkley, came up from New Harmony, Indiana, to spend the winter, so we were pretty thick in the house, but we got along very well and had no quarrels. There were six rooms in the house, and twelve people including the babies. We were glad to get moved into our new house although it was not nearly finished.

Mother Andrews spent part of the time with us.

l862

In January Father’s wife Lizzie died, and he sold his farm and broke up housekeeping and the family boarded. My life ran along in a quiet manner, there was always plenty to do. Ellen Hall quit school and helped me with the housework. We did all our own sewing, without a machine, baked our bread, made butter, did the washing and ironing, and took care of the children. There was not time to be lonesome, although we were strangers here; the Hinkley family was all the company we seemed to need.

In September Father visited us, bringing a young gentleman friend of his. It was Fair time, and they stayed a few days. There were four regiments of soldiers in camp on the river, which were expecting marching orders at any time. While Father was here he united in marriage Edward Maynard and Eliza Oatsman. Edward belonged to the 74th Illinois Volunteers and wanted to be married before he left Rockford^[ii]. The newspapers were full of war news, and it was a general topic of conversation everywhere.

In October the soldiers left. I went to the depot to see them start, they marched through the streets with bands, but it was a sad sight to see them part with their friends, and when they boarded the cars, poor fellows, many of them never came home.

December 18th Harriet’s baby Arthur came. Seth was visiting here that winter, but I do not remember whether he stayed all winter or not. Mother Andrews spent the winter with us.

1863

Ellen Hall visited a few weeks in Wisconsin during the early part of the year. In March brother Asa and sister Annie came; he stayed two weeks, but she remained with us and commenced going to school in the city.

On June 27, my last child was born. We named him Ernest John. I wanted the latter name for fear his father would go to war and be killed. All that summer there was a haunting fear of the war in my mind, as things began to look very serious, and it seemed like all the able-bodied men in the country would be called on. Edward Maynard was paroled on account of sickness.

In October we went up to Seth’s on a visit. Mother Andrews was keeping house for him. We had a pleasant time socially, but the weather was cold and stormy part of the time.

While we were away James had received a letter from the tenant at Dubois saying he had left the place. Someone had to go down there immediately. We packed up and went November 10. When we started the weather was cold and dreary, and we wore our winter wraps, but when we arrived at Dubois the sun was shining warmly, and it was a lovely Indian summer day. There had been a terrible drought that summer and the fields and orchards were as bare as the dead of winter. I was lonesome there, and our nearest neighbor was a quarter of a mile away, and political feeling ran high on account of the war, more than half of the people down there sympathized with the South. I was uneasy whenever John was away from home.

Our cousin, Miss B. Phillips^[iii], came to make us a visit in December, and because the weather was quite stormy she stayed much longer than she first intended.

1864

January 1^st there came the worst storm I had ever seen up to that time, but I have witnessed as bad since then. There was a blizzard and such a snow storm. John went to the post office a mile away. I was very uneasy fearing he would not find his way home. The next day was very cold and continued so for several days. All the peach trees in the state were killed.

In February I took a severe cold which settled on my lungs. I had worked too hard and had not taken proper care of my health, and now it failed me. All the work for five in the family I had done and had not been accustomed to work so hard. My baby Ernest was sick considerable during the spring months and I felt rather blue.

We took a tri-weekly Chicago paper and an old gentleman neighbor used to come over to get me to read the war news to him, his eyesight was poor. I do not think he could read very well either. He had two sons in the army, and took great interest in all the war news.

One of the pleasant things of my life down there were my letters from Rockford. Sister Annie was boarding with the Hinkleys, Ellen Hall was living there too, and they all wrote me such delightful letters, mail day was anxiously looked for.

The three little Andrews boys: Charles Norton, Harry Butler, and Ernest John, about 1864.

July 3 I started home to Rockford with my three children. John remained to take care of the place during the summer, for we had found a family to move into the house and board the hands. The Democratic presidential convention was in session in Chicago. Father, brother Asa, and Uncle Louis Norton were there. Asa was attending a law school there, and had a room. He met us at the depot and took us to his boarding house, where we spent a very pleasant day with my relatives. I also visited a physician in the city, who told me my lungs were somewhat affected, and gave me some medicine.

The Democrats nominated George B. McClellan for president, and George H. Pendleton for vice president. But the Republicans were successful and elected Abraham Lincoln for president and Andrew Johnson for vice president.

How delighted I was to get back to my Rockford home. My health improved some by the change of climate. Annie had gone to Goshen, Indiana, to live with Uncle Almon Norton. Mother Andrews came to live with us and also Nellie Hall. John remained at Dubois until October.

In November cousin Harriet Osborn came from Brooklyn, New York, to spend the winter with the Hinkley family. We had a jol1y winter, spending about three evenings a week together, playing Huggins, or Old Maid with cards, as Miss Osborn had scruples about playing Euchre, our favorite game. But what I enjoyed most was the grand talks we had; she was very intelligent and interesting and having spent most of her life in a city, opened up a new world to my mind.

We spent Thanksgiving day at our house and Christmas at the Hinkleys. Miss Osborn stayed ‘til May.

l865

In April the war came to an end, much to my delight. I had been in better health and was much more cheerful and hopeful than I had been the spring and summer before. How well I remember one April evening (though I have forgotten the date) we were all over at Harriet’s, when the church bell began to ring out rapidly and joyously. There someone exclaimed, “Lee has surrendered, the war is over!” We had been expecting it, and we all jumped up and commenced shaking hands, and I am sure that one of us at least cried for joy. A few days later we heard the dreadful news of Lincoln’s assassination which cast a damper on our spirits for a time, but nothing could undo the grand fact that the cruel war was over.

In June Ella Hinkley was born, and we were all much pleased. As I had three boys and Harriet had three, we thought there ought to be more of the girl element in the neighborhood.

Everything passed quietly during the summer; we took no trips and had no visitors from a distance that I remember. In the fall our tenant at Dubois wanted to leave, and James Hinkley decided to take his family down there.

Seth, his Mother, and Sibbie [little Sylvia Andrews] moved into their Rockford house. Before that, there had been built a house on the west end of James’ land for Mother Andrews to live in, and she had resided there for some time.

Our little Charlie was now six and we started him to school, but he did not go all winter. I taught him at home; he was reading in a second reader.

l866

This spring Miss Zillah Douglas on Avon Street started a private school for primary scholars, in one room of the Douglas house. Charlie and Sibbie Andrews attended. This was a memorable summer to me. I was in a low nervous state of health and under a doctor’s care but able to work and be around all the time. In June I became terribly excited about religious matters, found that I had drifted away from the faith of my fathers, and had nothing to hold on to. But after a few months my mind grew clearer, and I realized that although the Bible contains truth it does not contain all truth, and what is set down as doctrine is merely the belief of the writer of the book. And a more extended knowledge of history and the sciences confirms me in the opinion.

Fortunately for me we were growing berries, and much of my time was spent out picking the fruit. The fresh air was good for me, and the constant communing with nature was still better. Nature said to me, God is good and merciful, creeds and dogmas to the contrary notwithstanding, I prayed constantly, and my prayer was “I can’t believe (the orthodox faith) God help my unbelief.” My prayer was answered, and I was led to see that God is the Father and Maker of us all. Or as Isaiah says “I form the light and create darkness; I make peace and create evil, I the Lord do all things.” I became satisfied that God was all and the devil was a myth, imagined by priests to frighten their congregations into obedience. A good and merciful Father would never allow any of His creatures to be tortured through all eternity. I read a great deal of Whittier, that grand religious poet. How often I quoted

            I know not where his islands lift

            Their fronded palms in air,

            I only know I cannot drift

            Beyond his love and care.

George McDonald’s books helped me, as did Robert Falconer and others. I thought at that time that I was entirely alone in my struggle, that no one else had suffered in the same way, but years afterward I learned that many others had, notably Dr. [John H.] Kerr, and the author of Robert Elsmere [Mrs. Humphrey Ward, published 1888]. For no one could have written the vivid picture of his (Elsmere’s) mind without it being a personal matter.

In July Ebenezer Ellis, his wife, and Mrs. Van Camp, Sibbie’s Grandmother, visited us from Genesee, Wisconsin. They staid several days, part of the time they were at Seth’s. In August the children and I went on a visit to Father’s who had married a widow lady^[iv] and was living a few miles from Mattoon. I did not wish to go, but John thought it would be good for me to have a change, and father’s folks were so urgent for me to come. Seth was going to be married, so I had his company through Chicago. We stayed two weeks, and my little three-year-old Ernie was very sick while there and had ague for several weeks after our return. Harry also. I was delighted to get home though they had been so glad to see me and kind while there. Some way the greatest pleasure I ever had visiting was the delight of getting home in those days.

Seth was married to Miss Flora Phillips in September; they spent a few days at our home and then went to Genesee, Wisconsin to live on his farm, and they took Sibbie with them. The fall was a very sad one to all of us. The children and I were sick for some time. In November my brother Asa died near Mattoon. In December little George Hinkley died, he had been sick all summer with malarial fever at Dubois, it was a terrible blow to his parents. He was six years old. Mother Andrews came down there with them, and after the funeral she came up to our house. She took cold on the trip which resulted in pneumonia and she died one week later. The old saying came true with us that “misfortunes never come singly.”

1867

March 1st James’ family came back to Rockford; it was a very sad homecoming for Harriet, as she had left one of her little ones behind her. Mrs. Alehin on Peoatonica Street started a private school and Charlie and Harry went. In June Anne came from Goshen, Indiana, to live with us. Cousin Howard Norton came with her and remained a few days. Anne had taken a severe cold and her health was poor, but she seemed to improve after she came to us. My stepmother had died during the winter, and Father spent the time traveling among his Baptist friends. I did not see him this year.

My health was improving. John was working hard farming our eighty acre piece and raising berries on our seven acre Rockford place.

1868

In April, Harriet had another baby, a boy whom she named Hargrove Otis, who in a measure filled the place of George that she lost. This month Annie’s health failed visibly. The Doctor said one lung was hepatized and we saw that she was going with consumption. I took the best care of her that I could, and as Nellie Hall was with me could devote most of my time to her, especially as there was plenty of sewing and mending to do and could work in her room. She was very patient and gentle, and gave as little trouble as possible. Father came in September, he had been talking of taking her to Kentucky for the winter, but when he saw her concluded it would do her more harm than good, as she was so far gone. She passed away October 13. She had suffered so much I could not grieve for her, but I grieved for myself. I missed her so, always, very near and dear to me being my only sister, she had grown doubly so during the many months I had cared for and waited on her. Sometime this fall Father went to Logan County, Kentucky, to live, and I never saw him afterwards. In a year or two he married a Kentucky lady^[v], and lived on her farm the rest of his life. He died in September 1880.

1869

This was a very quiet uneventful year to us; nothing happened of any moment ‘til September when Nellie Hall, who had lived with us nine years, was united in marriage to Henry Joslin^[vi]. For the first time in nine years we were alone with our little family. It seemed so good. Of course I had more work to do, but by hiring the washing, as my health improved, I really enjoyed my work. Harriet’s baby Ralph was born December 14, her last child.

1870

I remember nothing particular about this year ‘til August when Harriet, baby Ralph, and I went to visit Seth’s family. They were now living at Lodi, Wisconsin. We had a delightful trip to Madison on the cars. Seth and a neighbor, Mr. Hall, met us with a two-seated carriage, and I don’t think I ever had a more delightful drive. It was twenty miles to Lodi and we arrived tired and hungry and found a good supper awaiting us. We had a pleasant visit of a week. They all seemed glad to see us.

In September John took the children and me on a visit to Nellie Joslin in Durand. We went one day and came home the next. October 13, Eliza Maynard died with consumption, just two years after Annie’s death. James Hinkley’s two sisters, Miss Lydia Hinkley and Mrs. Ellen Brown, spent most of the summer with relatives here. They were from California.

1871

Nothing of importance happened, we went nowhere away from Rockford. We had no sickness, no deaths, or marriages in the family.

1872

This spring John rented the farm and went down to Dubois to take care of the orchard. There was a promise of a large crop of apples and peaches. In July he wrote for Charlie to come down, and as it was the long vacation, he was delighted to go. I was almost afraid to have him go alone on the cars, but he arrived safely. In a few weeks he was taken sick with malarial fever and I took the other children and went down to take care of him. Found him very sick but he soon grew better. We had a great many peaches on the place, and if he had not been sick we would have had a fine time. We only stayed two weeks as Harry was taken sick and I thought we would all be down and hurried home with my children. John remained ‘til October. After our return Charlie had a relapse and I feared he would die. He recovered but was delicate all winter, did not attend school till the spring term. This fall we bought our first coal stove; before we had always burned wood and allowed the fire to go out of nights, so I did not keep house plants.

Notes:

---

[i] We have not been able to trace the Phillips relationship. Perhaps this was a relative of Anson Seeley Andrews’ mother, Elizabeth Butler, who had a sister named Sophronia. There was a Daphne Butler who married a Samuel Phillips and had a daughter Sophronia in 1823, and Elizabeth Butler did have an older sister Daphne born in 1782, but no connection has been proven.

[ii] Edward C. Maynard enlisted August 7, 1862 as a member of Company D, 74^th Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He was mustered August 28, 1862 and the Infantry began leaving Rockford September 4, 1862, so he must have been married within a few days. He was discharged with a disability May 20, 1863. (Brigadier General J. N. Reece, Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois, Vol VII, p. 586; online at http://www.archive.org/stream/reportofadjutant04illi1#page/582/mode/1up). After the war he became a policeman in Rockford. Sadly, Eliza and all three of their children died of consumption over the next twenty years. Edward married again and had a daughter who lived into old age.

[iii] We have not been able to trace what cousin this is. Perhaps she was a sibling of Sophronia Phillips.

[iv] Beverly Bradley Piper’s third wife was Mrs. Lucy W. Jones. They were married 2 November 1865 in Coles County, Illinois. She died in 1867.

[v] B.B. Piper’s fourth wife was Isabella Herndon. They were married 31 August 1870 and had a son, Robert Beverly Piper, in 1871; and a daughter, Ellen C. Piper, in 1873. Isabella died in 1914. Both Robert and Ellen married and had children.

[vi] Although we have been unable to trace Ellen Hall’s parents, her marriage was on 15 September 1869. She died 26 April 1879, and Henry Joslin married again. There were no children.
********************
Other Posts about Mirinda:

One-Room Schools, a Romance, an Earthquake

Mirinda and Slavery

The Further Adventures of Mirinda Piper (first part)
 
The Further Adventures of Mirinda Piper (second part)
 
Mirinda Piper's Adventures as a Young Lady of the 1850s