This month, I discovered, marked the 200th anniversary of Illinois statehood. In recognition of this momentous occasion, I thought this might be a good time to introduce you to my mother’s side of the family, and therefore, my Illinois heritage.
My mom, Kathy, grew up in a small town in Kendall County, Illinois, called Yorkville. Although her mother, Mathilda Steffen, had grown up in Iowa; her father, Gerald Pearce, had lived in Kendall County his entire life. However, my mom knew almost nothing of his family history. He was in his late 50's when she was born, and had died when she was just 21 years old.
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| Gerald Pearce and Mathilda Steffen |
...And then I ran smack into a brick wall!
Whenever those brick walls get the best of me, my plan of attack is to always go back to what I know. So, I visited the one place where I knew I could find Pearce family.
I am fortunate in one way, that many are not. My Pearce side of the family actually has a Pearce Cemetery in Oswego, Kendall County. But, other than my grandparents and a small handful of other relatives, I had no idea who anyone else in the cemetery was. I had only been to this cemetery a few times in my lifetime.
On my next visit to see my cousins, I stopped at the Pearce Cemetery to pay my respects to my grandparents. I also took the time to study, and write down, many of the names on the gravestones. And, I took what I discovered to the internet.
I not only learned quite a bit on my own, but my research also led me to a FB group for Onondaga County, NY Genealogy. And, by asking a question on there, led me to a 3rd cousin back in Illinois I never knew! She has been researching our Pearce/Warner lines for a long time, and was a veritable gold mine of information! (To protect her privacy, I will refer to her as Cousin Pearce)
I have also discovered a book, History of Kendall County, Illinois, from the Earliest Discoveries to the Present Time, written in 1877. Within its pages, I have found some of the county’s earliest settlers, such as John Pearce (Orson’s father), Walter Pearce and William Wilson. Walter was a brother to John, and William was his brother-in-law.
On pg. 98, I read,
“In August, 1832, John and Walter Pearce and William Wilson arrived with their families. They were from the Mad river country, Ohio, and started almost the moment they heard the [Blackhawk] war was over, with horse teams, driving their cattle and sheep before them. It was a tedious journey, and the prospect, when they reached the quaking swamps around Chicago, anything but inviting. But from that point they struck out for Fox River, and after a day’s travel in that direction were better pleased. They touched the river at Aurora, though there was not one solitary cabin then to mark the spot, and passed on down the south bank to the present site of Oswego. There Mr. Wilson drove his stake, while the Pearces crossed the river and made their claims on the other side. Oswego is therefore, by a few months, the oldest inhabited town in Kendall county…”
“June 1st, Daniel Pearce and family arrived at Oswego, having come all the way with ox teams. They had a tedious journey, for the season was wet and the mud very deep. They often met droves of cattle knee deep in mud. Mr. Pearce at once took up his present farm - one hundred acres of prairie, surrounded with timber, on Waubonsie Creek.”
According to my newly-discovered cousin, Daniel’s house not only is still standing, but rests on the edge of a golf course! She said that all of the golf course had once been his property.
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| Daniel Pearce's House (Courtesy of Cousin Pearce) |
I have no photos of my great-grandfather, Orson Seth, but my newly -discovered cousin has a few of Orson's baby sister, Ettie.
The photos below are of Ettie and her family (she will later have one more son, Ralph),...
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| Clockwise: Marietta (Ettie) Pearce, Glenn Pearce Andrews, Frank Andrews, Burton Everett Andrews (Courtesy of Cousin Pearce) |
...and of Ettie in her later years.
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| Ettie Pearce Andrews |
What do you think?
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| Ettie Pearce Andrews, and her nephew, Gerald Pearce |
I have also started some research into John's wife line, too. Maretta Marian Warner was born in Camillus, Onondaga County, NY to Joel Warner and Clarissa Foster.
According to the Kendall County book, (p. 171) "Joel Warner settled one mile east of Oswego, and afterward removed to Newark."
According to census records, Marietta and seven of her siblings were born in New York, but the last three in Kendall County, Illinois. So, I knew that they had to have migrated somewhere between April 1833 and December 1835. I have heard rumors that the newly-built Erie Canal in NY ran fairly close to the property of Joel's parents, Seth Warner and Lois Squire.
Besides looking closer into the Pearce and Warner families, I think that my next trail to follow would be how the Warners might have gotten to northern Illinois in the 1830's.
My guess would be the Erie Canal, and the Great Lakes. But, how would they do this in the early-1830's?
Would anyone like to help me with this? Have any of you done much research into this route of migration?
Sources:
Hicks, E.W. History of Kendall County, Illinois, from the Earliest Discoveries to the Present Time. Aurora, IL: Knickerbocker & Hodder, Steam Printers and Blank Book Makers, 1877.
