Posted on: Hancock Co. Il Bios Forum Reply Here: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Il/HancockBios/14 Surname: Bloyd, Lispie, McCubbin, Rupe, Thurber ------------------------- The Carthage Republican Carthage, Illinois Wednesday July 22, 1925 Page 6 THE HISTORY OF HANCOCK TOWNSHIP HANCOCK COUNTY, ILLINOIS MRS. CLARA B. SMITH, HISTORIAN MCCUBBIN, RUPE, BLOYD, HANCOCK COUNTY PIONEERS (By John C. McCubbin) Between Sept. 24 and Oct. 1, 1830, an emigrant party started northward from Green County, Kentucky, with the intention of establishing homes for themselves in the wilds of western Illinois. Counting men, women and children, it is positively known that there were at least twenty-nine in the company and probably six or eight more. Those composing the party were as follows: Pleasant McCubbin and his wife Matida, nee Rupe, and their eight children; Wm. H. Rupe and his wife Eleanor, nee McCubbin with their four children, Joseph, Polly, Frances and Pleasant; Levi Bloyd and his wife, Barbara Winn with their seven children, the youngest of which was only five weeks old), John Bloyd, Jr., brother of Levi, and his family, and John Bloyd, Sr. and his wife Mary, who were the parents of Levi and John Bloyd. They were then well advanced in years and were making their home with their son Levi. Pleasant McCubbin and Wm. H. Rupe had each married the other’s sister. The party traveled as far as Sangamon County, Illinois, with their ox teams, and there went into winter quarters near Springfield. In the following spring, just as soon as it was possible to travel, they continued their journey to Hancock County, and located in what is now Oak Grove school district. During that period, all the houses in that part of the state were built of logs, and these people built theirs of that material. It is not known where Wm. Rupe and John Bloyd, Jr., built their homes, but it was somewhere in the vicinity of the others. Pleasant McCubbin; built his dwelling just to the north of the little ravine that runs along the north and west sides of the Oak Grove cemetery. Levi Bloyd built his dwelling about two hundred yards to the north of where Lysander Belknap later built his residence, and which was at a still later date occupied by his son, Scott, as a country home. The Bloyd dwelling was really composed of two houses. They were built about eight or ten feet apart, with their gables facing each other. One continuous roof covered both the houses and the vacant space as well. This vacant space was called an “entry.” All went well with the new settlers until their crops were in, when an Indian scare created a disturbance in that section. There were good grounds for such an excitement at that time, on account of the Black Hawk war that was being waged not far to the north of them. Feeling quite anxious, especially for the welfare of the women and children, they abandoned their homes at once, and taking along only what was absolutely necessary, they made all haste possible, with their slowly plodding ox teams, to Beardstown, on the Illinois river to the east. There they built one long log structure, that we would now call an apartment house. There were just enough partitions in it to separate the different families. Here they lived until they felt it would be safe to return to their homes. Thomas Bloyd, a brother of Levi, and his wife, Elizabeth, nee McCubbin, who was a second cousin of Pleasant McCubbin and Mrs. Wm. Rupe, moved with their families to this new settlement in the fall of 1831. Thomas Bloyd was a nephew of Levi Bloyd. They built their house at a point near the foot of the hill, about one mile north and a quarter of a mile east, from where the Bartlett - Huntley - Martin mill was afterwards located. When Levi Bloyd moved to Hancock County, he brought a small pair of hand burrs, called a quern. These served as a community grist mill, and all the families in the settlement used it with which to grind their bread corn. About 1833 Miss Clara Chatman taught a subscription school in the settlement, and all the children that were so situated that they could avail themselves of the privi1ege, attended this school. Also about this time, there was a Missionary Baptist minister, by the name of Logan, who held religious services at the various homes in the neighborhood. I have in my possession, two old communications that were written by Levi Bloyd to friends in Kentucky. One of these is dated November 1, 1831, and addressed to Samuel Phillips and Nicholas McCubbin, and contained a special message for Zachariah McCubbin. Both the McCubbins mentioned in the communication, were brothers of Pleasant McCubbin and Mrs. Rupe. The other communication was dated April 12, 1832, and addressed to Joseph McCubbin, my grandfather. Beardstown, which was about fifty miles away was the post office used by these settlers. The reports sent back to Kentucky, in the communications referred to, were so favorable that they prompted Thomas, David and Joseph McCubbin, who were brothers of Pleasant McCubbin, to eventually move with their families to the new settlement. David and Thomas preceded Joseph, but the date of their arrival is not available. These two brothers married sisters whose maiden name was Gumm. Thomas built his house at the brow of the hill diagonally across the quarter section, and near its extreme northwest corner, almost directly northwest of the present location of the Oak Grove Church. The other brother, Joseph, came in the fall of 1834. At that time his family consisted of the following: His wife, Eleanor, nee Lipsie, and their three smal1 children, Sally Ann Lany, who at the age of fifteen married Jesse Riggens; Elizabeth Jane Emery, who at the age of eighteen married Wm. Booz; and Wm. Gardner, who married Miss Elizabeth Perkins, of Pilot Grove township. A stepson, Joel Thacker, was of age at that time, and he remained in Kentucky, but later moved to Hancock county. Mrs. McCubbins’ aged father, John Lipsie, was making his home with his daughter, and he too was a member of the party. They arrived at their destination so late in the season, that the early winter caught them without their dwelling completed. The weather became so bitter cold that they were unable to keep the clay mud in a plastic condition long enough to have it adhere to the logs, while attempting to chink the cracks. They used strips of undressed deer skins as a temporary substitute. Joseph built this, his first house, about two hundred yards to the southeast of where the Oak Grove school house now stands, and at the top of the hill south of the ravine. My father, Thomas B., now popularly known as “Uncle Tom” was born in this house. John Lipsie was a veteran of the Revolutionary War and lost a leg in the struggle for independence. He died in June, 1835, at the great age of 103 years and his remains were laid to rest in what is now known as the Belknap Cemetery. His grave is indicated by a marble monument which was placed there by the D. A. R. His name with other Revolutionary soldiers who have died in the county, is carved on a marble tablet which is now in the courthouse at Carthage. Catharine, wife of John Lipsie, died in the fall of the year, 1833, and was buried at Elizabethtown, Hardin County, Ky. Three years prior to the death of John Lipsie, John Bloyd, Sr., had been laid away near the spot where Lipsie’s remains lie. Bloyd’s body was the first one ever buried in that cemetery. The Rupes and all the McCubbins, except Joseph and his family, moved to Missouri within a few years. The last of these to leave was the family of Pleasant McCubbin. They moved to Benton County, Mo., in the spring of 1836. Pleasant helped to build the first house on the tract of land where Warsaw, the county seat of Benton County is now located. Barnett, one of the sons of Pleasant McCubbin, who was born in Hancock County, January 8th, 1836, is now living in Breckenridge, Mo. He is in his ninetieth year, and is in excellent health for a man of that age. Pleasant McCubbin was an athlete and the champion prize fighter of a large territory in the vicinity of his old home in Kentucky. While this sporting record was possibly of no credit to him, the possession of such unusual strength served him well throughout life. For some time while living in Illinois, he was engaged in hauling freight with his ox team from Beardstown to different points in Hancock county. No other man at either end of his run, could lift as much as he, nor could they load or unload the heavy barrels of whisky, which often composed a heavy percent of his load, with the same ease and rapidity as did McCubbin. An incident related to me by Samuel Brown, for whom Pleasant McCubbin worked, while Brown was building his mill dam across Crooked Creek, was described as follows: McCubbin was moving heavy stones from the quarry on the bank and placing them in the dam. About two o'clock p. m., without having exerted himself unnecessarily, he stopped and came to Brown and said, “Do you see how much rock I have moved?” to which Brown replied in the affirmative. Then McCubbin asked if it was as much as his average man had been moving in a whole day. Brown told him that it was more than any other man had ever moved for him in an entire day. Then McCubbin said, “Well, if you don’t mind I think I’ll lay off till morning.” Brown said, “All right.” McCubbin was back on the job the next morning at sun up. Those who were familiar with the work done by Pleasant McCubbin in preparing heavy timbers, for building material, claimed that by his unusual strength in wielding a broad axe, while scoring the logs, and the dexterity with which the finishing strokes were laid on, that he could hew about twice as many timbers in a given time as any other man with whom he worked, and the character of the finished product was practically faultless. Mrs. Joseph McCubbin was a professional midwife, having studied and practiced in Philadelphia, under the direction of what was considered, at that time, a competent practitioner. When Wm. Booz was a child he was left an orphan, and he made his home with the Joseph McCubbin family. He married Elizabeth, their youngest daughter. It was through the influence of his mother-in-law that Booz was induced to take up the study of medicine. Mrs. Joseph McCubbin died November 11, 1859, at the age of 63, and her husband died January 4, 1881, when 84 years of age. Their remains rest side by side in the Oak Grove cemetery, which is a part of their old home farm, and on which they spent the remainder of their days, subsequent to 1842. Pleasant McCubbin died at Warsaw, Mo., Oct. 6, 1863, at the age of 58 years. His wife died near Breckenridge, Mo., in 1894. David McCubbin died near Warsaw, Mo. Wm. H. Rupe died near Warrensberg, Mo., in 1862 or 1863, and his wife, Eleanor, nee McCubbin, died in Breckenridge, Mo., in 1864, at the age of 62 years. Levi Bloyd stated in his communication dated November 1, 1831, that no one had lived in that settlement longer than that Summer. We know that the McCubbin, Rupe and Bloyd party had moved in immediately after the breaking up of winter, and naturally conclude that they were actually the first settlers in what is now Oak Grove school district, and possibly, the first in the territory now composing the entire Hancock township, though this is only a conjecture and therefore cannot be positively stated. Levi Bloyd died in what was known as “American Bottom,” Illinois, in 1847, and his wife had died in Hancock County in 1843. Only four of their seven children lived to be grown. The following is a short sketch of each: Wm. R. married a Miss Sanford, and shortly after the birth of their only child, Wm. Washington, the mother died. He later married Miss Lydia Thurber, daughter of James Thurber of Hancock County. Five children were born to this second wife, after which she died. After her death, Wm., in company with his brother, Benjamin, crossed the plains to California in 1852. They spent three years in the west and then returned via Isthmus of Panama, to their homes in Illinois. The lure of the west always had a strong appeal for William, and when an emigrant train was equipped in Hancock County for California, in 1861, he was placed in charge of it as captain. His previous experience combined with his leadership, served to make him a competent commander. On this trip William took his orphan children along. His two sisters, Nancy F. and Charity W., with their families, were also members of the party. Nancy had married Abijah Tyrrell and they had four children after which she was left a widow. She then married Joseph Goodell, with whom she was living when they crossed the plains. Charity married her cousin, Emmerson Bloyd, of Hancock County. She died in Fresno County, California, October 24, 1905, at the age of 80. Nancy Goodell died in Tehama County, California, in 1876, at the age of 59. Benjamin died near Blandinsville, Ill., in 1884, at the age of 56, and William died in Kings County, California, Jan. 3, 1892, at the age of 81. In a communication addressed to my uncle, Dr. Wm. Booz, shortly after I had visited Wm. R. Bloyd, in Kings County, I transmitted a message from Bloyd. In my uncle’s reply, he stated that “Billie” Bloyd was one of the best friends he ever had. Following are a few short items relative to the eight McCubbin children who come to Hancock county with their parents, Pleasant and Matilda, nee Rupe, McCubbin, in 1831. All of these, together with Barnett M., who was born while the family lived in Hancock county, moved with their parents to Benton county, Mo., in 1836. Thomas learned the blacksmith’s trade, and in 1849, crossed the plains to California, and settled in Marysville, where he opened up a shop. He operated several forges in this shop. He died in Marysville, Feb. 1, 1874. Granville R., learned the blacksmith’s trade. Like his father, his strength was far above the average. He served two enlistments in the union army during the Civil War. He died at the Old Soldiers’ Home at Leavenworth, Kansas, and was buried there. Kern was never married. He died at Warsaw, Mo., April 16, 1872. James Addison learned the printer’s and tailor’s trades. As a musician he was far above the average in the use of the violin. He never married. He died in Ray County, Mo. John was a fine violin player. He married Polly Tucker. He died in Cameron, Mo. Casandre married Henry Gregory and had four children by him. Her second husband’s name was Michael Mahan, and they were married in Hannibal, Mo., where she spent the remainder of her life, and where she died. Frank went to California over land in 1853. He was unusually stout and seemed to have double the strength of an ordinary man. He never married. He died in Marysville, Calif. Byrd died in Hannibal, Mo., but was taken to Breckenridge, Mo., for burial. All the Bloyds who have lived in Hancock county since 1861 are descendents of Levi Bloyd’s cousins, therefore they are only distantly related to these mentioned in this sketch. Just when the McCubbin and Bloyd families became intimately acquainted is not definitely known, but tradition gives it as about the close of the Revolutionary War. The first date of their joint activities was in 1806 when my great grandfather, James McCubbin, moved with his family, in which there were then nine children, from the northern parts of Rockingham County, North Carolina to Green County, Kentucky. This was his second trip to the west and on this, he was accompanied by John and Mary Bloyd, mentioned above, and their children. The two families settled near each other and not far from the famous “Crab Orchard.” John Lipsie was a neighbor of James McCubbin in North Carolina, and he moved to Green County, Kentucky, about the time that McCubbin did. James McCubbin was of Scotch descent. He was born April 14, 1755. After the close of the Revolutionary War, in which he served, he married Miss Polly Cook. He died in Green County, Kentucky, March 16 1824. At the time of his death all of his thirteen children were alive and well and attended their father’s funeral. The name McCubbin appears to have been originally spelled M-a-c-c-u-b-b-i-n. Signatures of some of my great uncles, which were affixed to documents, that are now in my possession and nearly one hundred years old, show that both styles of spelling the name were used in the same family. In the genealogy of the “Maccubbin” family, which is quite complete, we find the same uncommon given names that we do in our branch, such as Pleasant, Zachariah and Nicholas, yet the relationship has never been definitely established. The first representative of the “Maccubbin” family to come to America was John “Maccubbin,” who came from Scotland in 1659 and settled in Maryland. General George Washington selected Mrs. James “Maccubbin” as his partner for the grand march, during the reception tendered him upon his resignation as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. The land now occupied by the government as a naval Training Station at Annapolis, Md., was purchased from the “Maccubbins” for that purpose. Representatives of the two families, Bloyd and McCubbin, have lived neighbors in four states of the union; scattered from the Atlantic to the Pacific. We know that in three of these, they were pioneers. Their joint activities in that line, were conducted in three of the counties of this state, namely; Sutter, Shasta and Tulare, and they have lived neighbors in two others, Tehama and Fresno. There are in this part of the state, at the present time, great, great, great grandchildren of James McCubbin, and great, great, great, great grandchildren of John Bloyd. Strange to say that during all this long period of intimate friendship, that with the sole exception mentioned in the first part of this sketch, there has never been any inter-marrying between the two families. Now, after nearly one hundred and fifty years, they still continue to hold harmonious social and business relations with each other. JOHN C. McCUBBIN. Fresno County, California. Link: Bryant Genealogy Web Page URL: <http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=bryant>