His family with his first wife, Isabella Trumbo

Jesse Green
Dec. 21st 1817

Isabella T. Green
Dec 7th 1822

John Byron Green               July 23rd 1844
Rollin Trumbo Green          Jan 31st 1847
Clara Isabella Green           Dec 21st 1849
Newton Mathias Green      May 6th 1852
William Douglas Green       Nov 14th, 1854

His family with his second wife, Hannah Rhoads Green

Hannah R Green
November 26th 1831

Thomas Henry              Jan 9th 1857
Joseph                           Nov. 29th, 1858
James Arthur                 Oct. 20th 1860
Cora                                Sept 21st 1862
Sarah                              July 1st 1864
Frank                             Nov 17th 1866
Jesse Alvin                     Oct 18th, 1868
Kent                                June 9th 1870
Infant Son                      March 2nd 1872
Mabel                             Sept. 23rd 1873

Barbara Grove Green

Died May 5^th, 1886, at the age of ninety three years, five and a half months. She had been confined to bed for about two months, and gradually and gladly passed away like an infant going to sleep. It was her desire to cast off this earthly tabernacle and be present with her Lord.

She retained her faculties to the last, with the exception of her sight, of which she had been deprived for the past seven or eight years. She was never heard to murmur or complain of her misfortune, but on the contrary seemed cheerful and happy.

She was born in Shenandoah county, Virginia, November 15^th, 1792. At the age of thirteen she, with her parents, removed to Licking county, Ohio, being in the year 1805, and lived there until the fall of 1829, when she and her companion, John Green and family, removed to this county. A few incidents of their journey will show the hardships and privations of those early pioneer days. We quote her own words from statements made by her to one of her grand daughters, who has recorded them:

“We started from Licking county, Ohio, on the first of November, 1829, for the state of Illinois. There were 24 in the company. Father had gone to Illinois the September before we started and bought land. He and three other men rode on horseback around by Cleveland and along the lakes. When they reached Chicago, where there were only two families besides the garrison, father bought some provisions and in paying for them pulled out quite a roll of bills. That night his brother, Wm. Green, dreamed there were robbers coming and woke the others up, but they refused to start out in the night just for a dream, and he went to sleep again only to dream the same thing again, and when he had dreamed it three times he told them they could stay there if they wanted to, he was going to leave; so they all started and soon after they saw three men following for the purpose of stealing they [sic] money.

“When we reached the ‘Wilderness,’ in Indiana, a man who lived on the edge of the woods told us it was impossible to go on, as the mud was so deep, unless we could travel on the wagons already stuck in the mud; but if we were foolish enough to try it, we must leave ‘those two smart little boys’ (Jesse and David), for we would surely freeze to death. But we did go on and the men cut a new road through the woods for sixty miles, about ten miles a day.

“Then, when we got to Cicero river, we had to take the wagons over with bed cords. One wagon, loaded with mill irons and blacksmith tools, was so heavy it tipped over, and we lost a good many things.

“Then the next place we came to was Sugar creek, and it was so high we had to pull the wagons over with ropes again and cut trees for us to walk on. Then there was a swamp next to the creek that the men had to carry the women over on their backs. Between Iroquois and Nettle creek there were five days the horses had nothing to eat, as the prairie was burnt, and they became so weak they got stuck in a ravine and could hardly pull the empty carriage out.

“One evening we had only bread and tea for supper, but that night father came back with corn and beef that he had obtained at Holderman’s Grove, and we were the happiest people you ever saw. We spent the next night at the Grove and the next day home, at what is known as William Dunavan’s farm.”

She lived in the town of Rutland something over a year when she removed to Dayton, being at this place at the time of the Black Hawk war in 1832. Of this war she says: “On the 16^th of May, 1832, the girls and I were at the spring, near where the feeder bridge now stands, when Eliza came down on horseback and told us that the Indians were coming, and we would have to go to Ottawa immediately. Then we went to a place a couple of miles below Ottawa and stayed there all night, and the third day returned home again. This was Sunday, and the next day the men made a stockade around the house out of plank. After it was finished they tried it to see if a bullet would go through it, and as it did, they hung feather beds all around. There were about sixty people here at the time, and we were so crowded that they had to sleep on tables, under the beds and all over the house.”

Mr. Green had intended to remain in his improvised fort during the war, but at about twelve o’clock at night, hearing of the massacre on Indian creek, and fearing there might be too many Indians, all those in the fort went to Ottawa. “When we got to Ottawa, there was no fort there, only a log cabin on the south side of the river, but they soon built a fort on top of the hill. We went to the fort, but there was so much confusion there that we had the log house moved up on the hill and lived in it. The next day a company of soldiers from the southern part of the state passed through Ottawa on the way up the river.”

Grandma Green bore all the hardships and privations incident to the settlement of two new countries and lived to see the development of this vast prairie country far, very far beyond her anticipations. When she came here she supposed that in time she might see the country settled around the skirts of timber, but never in her early days did she anticipate seeing the prairies settled up.

Occasional

1. The Ottawa (Illinois) Free Trader, May 22, 1886, p. 5, col. 2

Violetta Henderson

On 16 Nov 1883, Lettie Henderson and her mother set off on a shopping expedition to buy her wedding outfit. They took the Fox River branch of the C B & Q railroad from their home in Wedron, intending to shop in Streator. When the train reached Otter Creek, about 3 miles north of Streator, a coal train stood on the tracks and a danger signal had been posted to warn the passenger train, which came to a standstill. The following freight train, however, was not properly signalled and crashed into the rear car of the passenger train. Lettie and her mother were killed outright, along with two others, and two more men died by nightfall. Seven others were injured.

The Streator Free Press, 24 Nov 1883, p. 1

This clipping mentions Lettie’s engagement to John Green of Dayton. At this time in 1883 there were two John Greens living in Dayton. John, son of Jesse and Hannah Green was only 13 years old, so John, son of David and Mary Green is the more likely candidate. At that time he was 28 years old and unmarried. There is no family record indicating that he was once engaged to Lettie, and the newspaper could, of course, be in error, but he would have known her. Her name appears in the descriptions of the social life of Dayton at the time.

The Ottawa Free Trader, 24 Nov 1883, p. 4

Following the accident, the two were buried in the same grave in the West Serena Cemetery.

The Streator Free Press, 26 Apr 1884, p.1.

After the accident, the railroad company was held liable for the accident and paid monetary settlements to the relatives of the deceased. Mr. Henderson collected $6,000 dollars, $4,000 for his wife and $2,000 for his daughter.

Violetta G. “Lettie” Henderson was the daughter of Alexander S. Henderson and his wife, Atha D. Curyea. Alexander was born in North Carolina about 1835. He came to Illinois in the 1850s, and in 1860 was married to Atha Curyea, a sister of C. J. Curyea of Ottawa.. Their daughter, Violetta, was born November 5th, 1860, in Dayton township.

Charles G. Miller, one of the pioneer settlers of La Salle county, and for some years engaged in the mercantile business in Ottawa, died at the residence of his son in Chicago on the 3d inst., in the 72d year of his age. He was a native of Lancaster, Pa., and had come to this county in about 1837, opening a tailoring establishment in the village of Dayton, then buying and working a farm in Dayton township for several years, and then opening a dry goods store in Ottawa.

In 1862 he closed out his business here and returned to Pennsylvania, going into business in Pittsburg, but gave that up in about 1872, and since then had lived in Chicago. He was a man of more than average education, fond of books, a wide reader, and a ready and fluent speaker. Though active in his earlier days as a democratic politician, generous and big hearted, he never sought office and, except the postmastership at Dayton, we believe never held any. Two brothers, John and Uriah Miller, who survive him, are well known prominent citizens of this county; and a third brother, Reuben, who accompanied the Mormon exodus to Utah, we believe is still living there.¹

1. The Ottawa Free Trader, September 17, 1881, p. 1, col. 2.

In 1870, in addition to the US population census, there is also a mortality census, which lists everyone who died in the 12 months prior to the census. The official census day for 1870 was June 1 and therefore any deaths that occurred between June 1, 1869, and May 31, 1870 should be included. The first line of this list of Dayton residents includes Bridget Gardner, age 15, who died in June, killed by lightning. This implies  a death date of June 1869.

A death by lightning was unusual enough to warrant a mention in the newspaper, and the Ottawa Free Trader printed the following notice on the front page. Clearly this refers to the same young girl listed in the mortality census, whose father was farming some of Mr. Reddick’s land,

HOWEVER, this notice appeared in the Ottawa Free Trader on Saturday, July 2, not in 1869, but in 1870.

It seems most unlikely that the newspaper would save such a notice for a year before publishing it. It is much more likely that Bridget actually died on June 30, 1870. Why, then, does she appear in the mortality census?

When the census taker arrived at the Gardner household on July 21, 1870 and asked his questions, the answers were supposed to be true as of June 1, the official census date. It is very easy, though, to imagine the following interchange:
“Has anyone in your family died in the past year?”
“Yes, my daughter Bridget”
“How old was she and how did she die?
“She was 15 and was struck by lightning.”
“What month did she die in?”
“June”

Actually, Bridget, alive on June 1, should have been listed as a 15-year-old daughter in the family census entry, but adherence to the official census day for information was often overlooked.

Among all the people buried in the Dayton cemetery there are 22 who appear to have no other family members buried there. One such is Willie Kibler, a baby who died before his first birthday.

The A. J. and C. Kibler listed on little Willie’s gravestone in the Dayton cemetery were Andrew Jackson and Caroline Kibler, residents of Rutland township when Willie died, on Sept 11, 1867. They lived in the Dayton area for only a short while. A, J, grew up in Virginia and married Caroline there in 1865. They must have left for Illinois very soon thereafter, as they were on a farm in Rutland when Willie died.  Andrew, a farmer, was listed as head of household in 1870, although he owned no land. However, George W. Lamb, listed as a boarder in the household, was a 20-year old who had inherited a large farm from his father. It is likely that Andrew Kibler was farming George’s land.

When Andrew died his obituary (included below) appeared in the Wellsville, Kansas, Globe on December 12,1913.

Andrew Jackson Kibler

Bloomington Pantagraph 16 May 1878

Thomas J. Parr was born in Ohio, March 13, 1814. He came to La Salle county in 1834 and the following year bought 160 acres of land in Dayton township. He married John Green’s niece, Sarah Ann Pitzer on May 26, 1836. Sarah was the daughter of John’s sister, Anna. For Thomas and Sarah’s memories of early Dayton, see here and here.

Thomas and Sarah had eight children, six of whom lived to adulthood :

Jesse N. born January 24, 1839; married January 31, 1867, to Anna Cain; died November 28, 1886

Elizabeth Amanda, born August 5, 1841; married September 24, 1857 to Noah Brunk; died March 14, 1921, in Peabody, Kansas

Joseph Brumbach, born January 8, 1843; married December 28, 1865 to Sarah Knickerbocker; died October 1, 1900, La Salle county, IL.

Francis Marion, born June 10, 1845; married Julia Curyea December 31, 1868; died July 12, 1928

Martha A., born August 1848; married May 26, 1867, to Lyman N. Cole; died November 2, 1902, in Le Mars, Iowa

William Howard, born December 12, 1853; married December 31, 1874 to Mary Ruger; died June 24,1923, in Ottawa; bur  W. Serena

Thomas J. Parr lived another 20 years and died February 19, 1898. Sarah died the next year, August 5, 1899. They are buried in the West Serena Cemetery, near Serena, La Salle County.