This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: benald2 Surnames: Bates, McClintock, Thomas, Goodpasture, Breese Classification: biography Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.illinois.counties.adams/7737/mb.ashx Message Board Post: OLD RESIDENT OF ADAMS COUNTY GLAD TO HAVE LIVED EIGHTY-FIVE YEARS IN GREATEST OF STATES. Thomas J. Bates, now living in Quincy, Born in Morgan county in 1833--- "Eighty-five years is a long time to live."I hope to see the conclusion of this world war," says Thomas J. Bates, who Thursday will celebrate the eighty-fifth anniversary of his birth. He has told the story of his life in The Journal and it was given to the readers as he wrote it: My parents Joseph H. Bates and Nancy Goodpasture Bates came from Overton county, Tennessee, in the spring of 1830, and settled on the J. Morton farm, three mile southeast of Jacksonville, Morgan county Illinois. The first winter after they came, was what was been called the "winter of the deep snow." Snow fell to the depth of four feet all over the county. In a little cabin on the Morton farm I was born on the 21st of February. 1833. I was the fifth child in a family of fourteen. Two of these died in infancy, Twelve growing to manhood and w! omanhood. In 1835 my parents moved near to where the village on Concord now stands, about twelve miles northwest of Jacksonville. Father bought government land there for $1.25 per acre, and here spent my boyhood days, romping over virgin prairies. Almost everything was different in those days from the present. Farming was carried on in a very crude manner. The wooden mouldboard plow and the A-shaped harrow were used. Corn was planted by hand and cultivated with one-horse plows. Grain was cut with the reaphook of scythe and cradle, and threshed by hand of flail of tramped out with horses. Horseshoes and horseshoe nail were made by hand. Whiskey was 25 cents per gallon and drunken men were rarely seen. Letter postage was ten cents. There were no cook stoves. In Feb, 1840---the exact day I do not remember---the day the "Millerites" were going to have the world come to an end whether or no--on this day my father brought and brought home the first cook stove I ever saw. Cook sto! ves were crude then to what they are how. Mother had a whole lot of tr ouble getting hers to work satisfactorily, but finally succeeded. Then the three-legged pots, ovens and skillet were set aside, that mother had been using many years. RAISED FLAX FOR LINEN In those days we raised cotton, from which mother carded cotton batting for comforts and quilts; also spun candlewicking. We raised flax, too, out of which mother spun lined yarn and wove linen cloth, from which she made tablecloths, sheets towel and clothes for the children in the summer time. Hogs were all slaughtered at home and hauled to Meredosia and sold for from $2.50 to $3.00 net per hundred. There were no schools houses. Schools were held in private homes and supported by subscription. Tallow candles or crude lamps were use for making lights. there were no churches. The gospel was dispensed by "circuit rider" in private homes. Well do I remember the eccentric and venerable Peter Cartwright, when he rode the circuit and preached in our neighborhood.CLOTHES HOMESPUN Our clothes were! homespun. Mother spun the yarn and wove the cloth from which they were made. I never wore a suit of "store clothes" until after I was 21 years of age. My mother was a remarkable woman. I have often wondered how she could spin the yarn, and weave so much cloth, cut and made clothes for the whole family, and knit many of the socks and stockings (for these had all to be knit at home);do her own housework and rear and care for such a group of children. NO RAILROADS IN 1835 At this time(1835), Chicago was a small village. There was not a mile of railroad in the state. The first railroad was survived in 1837 from Springfield to Quincy, crossing the Illinois river at Meredosia. This railroad was called the Northern Cross. That part of this road leading from Meredosia to Jacksonville, was completed in 1836, and a free excursion, was given from Meredosia to Jacksonville on July 4th of that year to celebrate the completion of the road. Some grading was done in Adams county on this r! oad, but was never completed, and the whole project was finally abando ned. WALK THREE MILES TO SCHOOL. Years pass by. In 1847 my father bought a farm in Adams county, two miles west of where Camp Point is now located, and we moved there in April of that year.At this time in our school district there was a rough log school log schoolhouse near our place on land owned by Mr. Donley. School was held only in the spring months. The first two winters after we came here, my two older brothers, William and John and myself, walked three miles to school in an adjoining district, often wading through snow from ten to twelve inches deep. George W. Hamrick of Fountain Green is the only one of my early schoolmates that is now living so far as I know. Of those with whom I went to school in the adjoining district, Sam Farlow, Robert W.. Garrett and Richard Seaton are still living, all of Camp Point. At this time Peter B. Garrett, one of the oldest settlers and most Prominent men in the eastern part of the county, owned and operated on an old-fashion tread-mil! l, where corn was ground and wool carded. Later this mill was changed to a steam mill. The original name of the settlement at Camp Point was Garrett's Mills. Progress grows apace as the years pass. School were built and good school established. District schools at that time were very different from the present day. School were composed of from 25 to 40 Scholars, instead of from six to 15,;Teacher wages were from $25 to $40 per month, instead of from $40 to $75. Do ye old folk who read this remember the spelling schools of those days? Could the youngsters spell? You bet they could spell. FATHER A PREACHER Times passes. My father was a great lover of music. He had a splendid voice and was noted for his singing wherever he was known. He was also a man of deep piety and strong religious convictions. When about 40 years of age he was licensed to preach, two years later he was ordained a minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. He preached for many years. He always mai! ntained it was better to spend money in the educating his children tha n in adding acres to his half section farm. Every one of his 12 children was sent to college, seminary or academy, at no small expense. Some of them "went clean through college,"while others only part way. In 1854 I had my first ride on a railroad. I was in school at Abingdon, Ill., and wanted to go home to Camp Point. At the time the C., B. & Q railroad was being built from Galesburg to Quincy, but was not completed, so I went to Burlington, Ia., on the C., B. $ Q., and from there down the river by boat to Quincy,and from there to Camp Point on the new railroad. This road was completed in 1855. MARRIED IN 1859 I taught school four winters and farmed in the spring and summer, On the 6 day of November, 1859 I was married to Miss Leonora Wilson, oldest daughter of J.J. Wilson a prosperous farmer of St. Mary's township,in Hancock county To this union seven children were born: Melgar McClellan, John Emmett, Hanson Everett, Harry Malcom, Carrie Geneva, Lenora and Mary Emma. The! eldest of these had but a short span of life. When two years and seven days old he was taken from us. In 1858 I bought 80 acres of raw prairie, one-half mile east of Bentley, in Hancock county. This prairie I broke with four yoke of oxen, and hauled lumber from Warsaw to fence it. In the winter of 1860 I built a house on it and we went to housekeeping in March of that year. About this time I had the honor of being appointed the first postmaster of Bentley. I kept the office at my own home until a store room was built in Bentley. Six years pass. In the spring of 1868 I sold my farm and moved to Camp Point. The winter of 1867 I fed cattle in McDonough county. In June, 1868, my Father moved to Lincoln, Ill., and I moved on the old homestead, where I farmed and fed hogs and cattle for 11 years. In those days political lines were pretty closely drawn. My father was nominally a democrat, but talk temperance more then tariff. Of his sons four were democrats, two republicans and o! ne independent. I fell on the democratic side of the political fence.I N THE STATE LEGISLATURE At this time (1871) Camp Point township was republican by about 100 majority. However, the voters of the township had confidence enough in me to elect me supervisor for four years in succession, from 1871 to 1874. At the November election in 1874, I was elected a member of the state legislature from this senatorial district, composed at the time of Adams and Hancock counties. My colleagues were the Hon.Ira M. Moore of Quincy, the Hon. R. H. Downing of Golden, and the Hon Janney of Hancock county, who was later elected to the senate. In 1877 I bought land three and a half miles northwest of Camp Point, on which I built one among the best farm residences in the township,and we moved there in March, 1879 and I continue farming and feeding stock for thirteen years. During these years I was one of the most successful growers of wheat in the county. TO GALESBURG More years pass. In the spring of 1892, my boys all being of age and gone from home, I sold my ! farm and moved to Galesburg, in Knox county, where two of my sons were in business. As the years passed, Mrs. Bates health failed. She became a great sufferer, but never murmured nor complained, On the morning of the sixth day of November, 1998, she died. Mrs. Bates was of a tender, sympathetic nature. No one was ever turned away from her door hungry. A loving, sacrificing mother, who idolized her children and loved her home. To know her was to love her. Since her death I made my home mainly with my children, spending a good many years at the home of my daughter, Mrs. S. McClincock, of Galesburg. I have made three trips to the Pacific coast and spent nearly four years there. I like California. She excels all the states in sunshine, in good roads, in oranges and lemons, in prunes and--- but I am digressing. I have passed several winters in Texas at the home of my sister in law, Miss Emily Wilson. I have traveled more or less in Twenty-eight different states; been in Mexico o! n the south and Canada on the north, and was never in a railroad accid ent. CHILDREN LIVE IN DISTANT PLACES Some years ago my family was all in Galesburg. Now they are badly scattered. John E. is at Greenacres, near Spokane, Wash; H. E. near Mobile, Ala; H.M. at Bluff, Ill.; Mrs.McClintock in Galesburg, Ill.; Miss Lenora in Los Angeles, Cal., and Mrs. H. C. Lucas at Long Beach, Cal. I have nine grand children--six boys and three girls--and two great grandchildren. Of the six grandchildren, two are married; C.Evertt McClintock, of Beardstown, Ill., and Floyd B. Bates of Theodore Ala. Each of these has has a fine boy to bless their home.The others all volunteered to take part in the great war. Two of these failed the physical test. Of the other two, Lieut. Charles Bates of Galesburg in the coast artillery services and is stationed at Fort Hamilton, near New York City. Harry Bates of near Spokane, Washington, is in the hospital corps at Great Lakes training station, north of Chicago.RELATIVES LIVE TO OLD AGE But four besides myself of my father's ! family are living, They are M.C. Bates and Josephine Thomas of Galesburg; Prof. A. H. Bates of Ponta Gorda Fla., and Mrs. Margaret Breese of Chicago. A singular fact in regards to this family is that the youngest brother and the youngest sister were the first to break the family circle; my brother dying in his 27th year and my sister in her 28th. Father passed away in his 83rd year and mother in her 85th year. These four lie in the beautiful cemetery at Lincoln, Ill. to wait the resurrection morn. I have a large circle of relatives and friend in this county and also in Hancock, Knox and Morgan counties. One cousin near Concord, in Morgan county, Mrs. Martha Goodpasture Smith, in in her 94th year; is enjoying good health and does most of her own housework. I have been a member of the Presbyterian church for 68 years and of the Masonic order 48 years. Eighty-five years is a long time to live. that I have made mistakes n-plenty, I freely admit. Perfection in this life is hardly to be expected. Let him that is perfect make the first criticism. If you would care to live to a ripe old age, be temperate in all things. Be content with your lot. Don't worry. Look on the bright side of life, Look for the "silver lining in the cloud." I esteem it a great privilege to have been a citizen of these United States so long; to have lived in the most enlighten age of the world's history, and last but not least, to have been born in the greatest of all states--- the great state of Illinois. My home is at Bluffs, but I am not there at present on account of sickness. My health is fairly good,and I hope and expect to live to see the successful conclusion of this world war and the world made safe for democracy. The Quincy Daily Journal, February 20, 1918, Page: 3 Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.