I also am researching the Nickerson surname. Mine are from McLean County, Illinois. Thomas W. Nickerson h/o Nancy Pratt s/o George A. Nickerson h/o Malinda Johnson s/o Albert R. Nickerson h/o Elenor Cook Is there a connection? Rhonda -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] <[email protected]> To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Date: Tuesday, August 17, 1999 10:14 PM Subject: Re: [ILPEORIA-L] Stowells >An article on the Stowell Family of Lawn Ridge from "Princeville and >Vicinity". >By Calvin Stowell, 1910 >(OF INTEREST TO ME as I have several ancestors who were of Lawn Ridge - >surnames mainly Foster, Sickles and Nickerson) >To the Officers and Members of the Old Settlers Union of Princeville and >Vicinity, >Greeting: >We have been repeatedly asked to furnish a sketch of our father's life in >connection with his pioneer days in the early settlement of IL. We feel it to >be a delicate matter to write of the life of one, or portion of the life of >one, as close by the ties of nature, as father and son; but we realize that >those of my father's generation immediately following, have passed over the >"Dark River." and so far as I can remember, there is no one now living that >could testify in regard to the facts connected with our final move to IL in >1843, aside from the writer. >Of the incidents connected with his first trip to IL on his exploring >expedition in 1836, we can only give them from memory as we have heard talked >over again and again at the fireside in our childhood days and often repeated >in our mature years. So under existing conditions, we should feel ourselves >unworthy of the father that begot us, and the mother that bore us, if we >should refuse to give any facts in regard to those pioneer years of hardship >and heroic endeavor and endurance that would add anything to the history of >the early settlers of IL, whose lives are now numbered up on the records of >the heroic deeds of the past. >In the spring of 1836, when my father, Ebenezer Stowell, was 29 years of age, >he and his first cousin, Roswell Nurse, and his son, Isaiah Nurse, a young >man just at his majority packed their grips with such things only as were >absolutely necessary for health and comfort on the road, and, with one rifle >as their only weapon, which they carried turn about, started from Bambridge, >Chenango Co., NY, for the much talked of "Land of Promise," the young state >of IL. >Their plan was to make the trip on foot and to make any side explorations in >going as might be deemed best. Just the route which they took, we are not >able to give, further than this, that they explored quite thoroughly much of >the country along the Wabash River in Indiana, and then struck across to >Peoria, IL, which was then little more than a village. From there, they went >up the river to Chillicothe, a town of a few houses along the river bank. >Here they met Jacob Booth, whom they had known in York State, who had >preceded them by a length time unknown to us. We have also heard them speak >of meeting J.H. McKean, now a resident of Wyoming, IL, well past his four >score and 10 years. But they had little time for visiting; time was precious >and they were there on business. >FURTHER INFORMATION FORTHCOMING > > > >==== ILPEORIA Mailing List ==== >Search this list's archived messages! >http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl > >