The Higgins family was a religious
family. Daniel joined the Methodist
Protestant Church, ten days after his 40th birthday. Seven years later, Daniel becomes a licensed
local preacher, holding this status until the day he died.[1] One of the younger sons, Henry, also
converted to Christianity during a time of Religious Revival. In January 1861, at the age of 19, Henry
attended a series of revival services at the old Center Ridge schoolhouse. He was one of forty to convert to
Christianity.
Henry became ill in late May of that
same year; worriedly the country doctor stayed constantly by Henry’s sick bed
for over a week. On June 9, at three p.m.
in the afternoon, when the Dr. was away, Henry had a remarkable vision
…“in which he saw a man standing in the room who introduced himself to
the sick boy as his Heavenly Father. In
his hands he carried a large book, which he gave to the boy saying, be thou
healed, be thou whole. Immediately
afterward the patient turned himself in bed, the first time he had done this
unassisted since his sickness began. As
he took the open book in his hands he read aloud from the right hand page the
names of Christian friends and on the left hand page he saw the names of
friends that were not professing Christians.”
The Heavenly messenger instructed Henry
to deliver a message in two weeks to his friends whose names appeared on the
left hand page. Henry seemed to take a
turn for the worse after this event; the family feared he would die, but he
recovered in time to deliver his message to his friends on the appointed
day. The news of his healing spread far
enough to receive mention in the Schuyler County newspapers.[2]
Undoubtedly, after Daniel’s conversion, the family read the bible together.
“The Methodist Church has always believed that to make a good church, they
should teach the members the bible from the cradle to the grave.”[3]
It was customary for the Church to hold
services every Sunday morning and on Sunday evening. The young folks would typically meet for an
hour before the Sunday evening service to have a bible study and discussion
time.
For many years the prominent Reverend
Samuel Dark, a respected Baptist minister, owned and farmed the land just
adjacent to his son Jackson’s land.
Samuel “labored in the Lord’s vineyard for more than fifty years.”[4] Reverend Dark even married James M. Higgins
(Daniel’s grandson) to Eudocia Crook at the Reverend’s residence in 1881.[5] There must have been some interesting
religious discussions between Jackson and Sarah since they were sandwiched
between a Methodist preacher for a father and a Baptist minister for a
neighbor.
A good fifty years later in January
1917, Daniel’s descendants contributed to the construction of the Center Ridge
Church in Brooklyn Township. It was a
good-sized church, with a full basement for Church socials. Some of the contributors were grandchildren,
Dora Higgins, Charles Higgins, and Elva Higgins.
Many of the Higgins family members
associated themselves with the Brooklyn United Church dedicated on October 1, 1893,
built at a cost of $3,000 with much of the labor donated. The Higgins name was included in the list of
“loyal members of the church”.[6] Most of Daniel’s descendants and their wives
claimed to be Methodists and Democrats.
Daniel became a respected member of
the community. The first annual town
meeting held in Brooklyn was on April 4, 1854.
Voting through ballots, the group elected Daniel Higgins; age
forty-seven, as moderator and Mr. Burrage Bistol as Town Clerk. Other officers elected that day were Supervisor,
Town clerk, Assessor, Collector, Commissioners of Highways, Justice of the
Peace, Constables and Poor Master. “A
Plat was made of the road districts in the township and a list of the real
estate lying in the road districts was listed for taxation for year 1854 as
taken from the assessment roll for the year 1853.”[7] Daniel performed his civic duty working as a
Grand Juror for 5 days in April 1853. He
was paid $8.20 for his service. He
served as a Petit Juror the following April for 6 days making $9.70.[8]
Local gatherings provided amusement
and recreation for the citizens of Brooklyn Township. They enjoyed competitions that tested their
physical prowess such as jumping, wrestling and foot races. Shooting competitions were popular as well as
woodcraft skills. A Wild turkey or
gallon of whiskey rewarded the competition winners.[9]
[1]
D. Higgins Obituary, Rushville
Times, Rushville, Illinois, Feb 20, 1896
[3] Museum, Schuyler County, 26,
[4] Dyson,
Historical Encyclopedia 695
[5]
Illinois Gen Web Project, “Marriage Records”, http://schuyler.illinoisgenweb.org/MarriageRecords/marriages2.html
(accessed April 10, 2013)
[6]
Museum, Schuyler County, 71
[8]
Schuyler County IL Gen Web Project, “List of Jurors 1853-8154”, http://schuyler.illinoisgenweb.org/Jurors/Jurors1853-1854.html
(accessed on June 11, 2013)
[9] Ibid., 7
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