Family History by Robert Monroe Fleming (Sr.)
“The Story” by Grandma Causey, Part 2
Transcribed by Robert M. Fleming Jr.
In 1803 Virginia had become pretty well settled up. And several Familys became dissastisfied. That is the men did. And began talking of going West, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri was called west. So several familys packed their goods in their wagons & started. And stoped in Inda. at a place that is now New Albany. And settled there. It is about one of those familys my story deals with. I will call them Clement. they raised a family of twelve children, six sons & six daughters. Who all lived to marry & raise large familys. As fast as the sons became of age they filed on land. And some of the daughters'husbands. so that the most of the family settled there. That was my great grandfather & his family. He was their minister, & judge. He sentenced the first man to be hung in that part of the country, for murder. Two of his daughters married & moved two hundred miles from there upon the Ohio River. & their husbands filed on homesteads. there was no one else near. And in place of them taking up the land so they could build the cabins close together, they were a mile away. one of them was my grandmother. I asked her why they didn't. She said they wasnt afraid and they built in the best locations. their husbands were away so much. had a steamboat and freighted up & down the river. and those girls would be alone only as they visisted each other. but couldnt remain away from their homesteads long at a time. they cooked on fire places. and had no matches. and they had to cover their fires. but they would go out some time in spite of any covering. then if my grandmothers fire went out she would take a kettle with a lid & go to her sisters & get fire. but it would always be in the morning when she would get up that it would be out. And her sister had to do the same. and a great many times thesnow would be to their knees they had to make their lights out of old grease in a jar, pan with a rag in it. they had been there five years. they wanted to go home on a visit. and their father came after them horse back. had two horses with side saddles on. my grandmother had two little boy, my uncle Aaron 3 years and uncle James about a year old. her sister had a little girl three years old. she carryed her little girl. my grandmother carryed her baby & her Father carryed Uncle Aaron. and they traveled 200 miles horse back. They didnt go back to that place to live.
and a few years after my grandparents moved to Ill. one of my great aunts & her husband and large family had moved there a few years before to a place called Walnut Grove. And they and their children organized the first christian church and called it Mount Zion church. years afterward the farmers, the famous Christian College was built in four miles of there. at my old home town Euraka. When my grandmothers oldest son was about sixteen my grandfather died. the two oldest boys worked for their clothes and board. and she had five little girls and one young son. and she began the tayloring business. would sew untill twelve at night many a night. by a grease light. If she had plenty of grease she would put in two nights & put in two wicks. she raised her family that way. all of them lived to marry and have familys of their own. My Father was raised in Ky.
His Father owned a lot of slaves. they gave them their free papers when they came to Ill. they could have sold themfor several thousand dollars. but they said they would almost as soon have sold one of their own children they never did sell one. My Father had eight brothers. they brought fine racehorses with them from Ky. there were so many wolves & deer & bufalows in Ill. at that time. they had these big greyhounds. I can remember when we used to have all kinds of fur robes in our sleighs in the winter. there were so many wolves they would just come right in the barn lots & cary of pigs & chickens or anything they could get. one time a very large man died [first three words in bottom line are illegible] on the way to the funeral they were surrounded by wolves. the men all had guns. they carryed them every place. the men had to walk by the side of the wagons. with the guns and dogs they kept them off. and when the men went to bury him the women used their guns and kept them off. one of my cousins went out one evening after the horses. he was about 12 years old. he was never afterwards seen. they found the bridle and some of his clothes, supposed the wolves tore him up. one would think that countrywas rough & wild enough for any one., but there were several men there that had the wander lust and wanted to go to a new country. my Father was one of them. he & my mother had only been married a short time. one of my Fathers Brothers & wife, a sister of my mother & hunsband & cousin. Dr Hardi & wife was in the crowd. they packed up their big schooner wagons. Several of them drove oxen. they took cows & chickens & lots of dogs. several young men rode horse back. at night when they camped they made a corral with their wagons. they were more afraid of bandits stealing their horses then they of the Indians. that was about 1840. they were not sure where they would stop, when they started. but they kept going until they landed in Mo. and stoped right in the wilderness. nothing but timber. they built their houses as near together as possible. they had to survey their land them selves. they started a town that became the county seat. My Father built the first store building. built it like a block house with places to shoot out if the Indians bothered them. I forget just where they went for their goods. I know it took them about a week if the weather was good. there was alway three or four teams went. and several men to protect each other. but the horse thieves or bandits were worse than the Indians.
there was three brothers name Killgore. they would steal in spite of everything. they had a vigilante committee. they built a jail & put them in. as soon as they were released they would steal another horse. they whiped them but it did no good. the Indians would come in but they were friendly. they had been around the store so much my Father learned to talk with them. one time there was about three hundred came in and frightened the women nearly to death. but they were just moving to a new camp. and stoped to buy some things. they would bring furs down to trade at the store. one time there was about 50 Bucks camped there. about half of them were young Bucks. and some one sold them some whiskey. they painted their faces and began dancing their war dance around the fire. the whites all gathered in the store building. my Father took his life in his hands and went to the camp. the old Bucks were friendly & smoked the peace pipe. they said they were trying to get the young Bucks to quiet down. that they didnt want to have any trouble with the whites. Father remained with them until they quieted down and went to sleep. my mother said said they didnt know if he would live to get back or not. my Father said that was one time he was frightened. there was only about two doz. white men. but the women could shoot as well as the men in those days.
there were new familys moving in all the time. and the town building up. so they did not feel so afraid. there was some fanilys moved in from Ky. among them a young atorney his wife & little son 4 years old Bruce. their names were Harper. he became their first Judge. Another family a Mr & Mrs Randel & baby Betty 6 months old. Every time Bruce came then he would say to take Betty home with him. one morning Mrs Randel was in the kitchen at work. had left Betty a sleep in her cradle. she had been out quite a while and went in for something and the cradle was empty. No Betty. the first thing she thought of was Indians. she ran out screaming. every one who heard her cry came running. she said the Indians have stolen Betty. they said there hadnt been any Indians around there they saw. Mrs Harper coming carrying Betty and Bruce walking along crying. he wanted to keep her. Mrs. Harper tryed to get him to say he was sorry for frightening Mrs Randel so bad. but he wouldnt say it. said she would get another one & let them have Betty. that was the first time Betty was kidnaped. he had come in and carryed her home when she [illegible bottom line on page - I think I got the previous five words correctly, but I’m not sure]
Mr Randel had got a nice start of sheep & cattle, and wanted more soon, another man Uncle Billy West a Bachelor wanted to go where he could get more range. so they went down the river where they could get good grazing. they hadnt used their homestead rights so they hunted untill they found some good land with running water. about once a year Mr Randel would come back the the town to visit Mrs Randel & Betty. & get a supply of goods. every time he would come Betty would beg him to take her home with him. he would say the bandits would cary you of out there. she would say. what is a bandit. he would say. a bad man. she would say. well I want to see one. wouldnt be afraid of any man. she begged him to bring her a pony. he told her when she was ten he would bring her a pony. she said that would be so lovely, so long. and she wanted to ride with Bruce. His pony was getting to small for him. his father got him a larger one then Bruce let Betty ride Mig he called the small one. and the day she was 9 he made her a present of her. she was so glad she caught him around the neck & said. oh Bruce I love you. he said you are to always love me for some day I am going to marry you. she says why of course I wouldnt ever marrry any one else. on her ninth birthday he bought her a ring with his own money. and told her when she grew older would get her another one. they were out playing one day and he climbed a tree & fell out and broke his arm. she sat by him and played with him untill he got well. when she was ten Mr Randle came in and took Mr R & Betty back with him to the wilderness. it almost broke Bruces heart for Betty to go. Mrs R. was in suchpoor health she only lived two years. they had taken a governess with them for Betty. her father only kept her there another year. she was so venturesome he was afraid she wouldbe stolen by the Bandits. her teacher married the foreman on the ranch. so Mr R took Betty back to town and left her with his sister and her husband. they had no children and was glad to have her. he gave Betty orders that she was to never go out riding alone.
Betty and Bruce had not seen each other for three years. Bruce was 17 almost a man. they just hugged and kissed the same as tho they always had. they attended the same school then for a year. then judge Harper sent Bruce to Va. to attend school & study law. but before he left he had a talk with Betty and made her promise to wait for him. he said, "I suppose some of those other fellows will get around you and you will forget me". she said,"you will forget me before I will you". he said he wanted her to get her aunt Polly to take her and have her picture taken for him. and here is something for you. he took a chain out of a box with a beautiful locket on it & fastened it around her neck. oh Bruce is it a locket. yes it is. open it. she finally got it open & saw his picture in it. oh I am so glad. now when I get homesick to see you I can look at this. he said and here is something else and sliped a new ring on her finger. she had on the first one out grown it he had got her. the new one large enough for her middle finger. so she could wear it while she was waiting to be 18. then he would replace it with an engagement ring. her Father wouldn't allow her to be engaged so young. she had her picture taken in a little case. like they took them those days. he said he would cary it in his pocket over his heart.
the same fall after Bruce left Betty started out for a ride. she told her uncle & aunt there were some other young people going. but they didnt go & she went on alone. with her big dog. she didnt pay any attention to where she was going. and got off the trail. and just found out she was lost. the dog stoped to growl. and the pony stoped & snorted. & she saw two large gray wolves. right in front of her not ten feet away. she studyed for a few minutes what to do. then she remembered Bruce had always told her if she got lost to let the pony go & he would take her home. so she said to the dog,"go home Rovrer". & he jumped up in front of the pony. and she gave him the bridle & he and the dog both turned & went right back the way they had [bottom line of page illegible with only the very tops of a few letters visible] any grass grew under the ponys feet. they just went flying. she said that was one time she was frightened. and it was a lesson to her. she didnt go out alone after that. that same fall a boy got lost.
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©2009 Robert M. Fleming Jr.
This page was last revised on 14 December 2009.