Julia Higgins Fowler (1831-1856)

Julia Ann Higgins was the first of the children to marry.  She married John Fowler on July 12, 1849 at the age of eighteen.  The Fowlers, a pioneer family, settled in Schuyler County in 1840, arriving in the area just two years after the Higgins family.  Julia and John had quite a bit in common, they were both born in Ohio, both completed a childhood trek across the country from Morgan County Ohio thus knew what it meant to be pioneers. Thomas’s parents were James T. and Mary (Savalt) Fowler. 

Julia and John lived right next door to Daniel and Sarah.   Julia’s reported age, listed by the 1850 census taker, was twenty-two and her husband twenty-five.  In reality, she was just nineteen but her husband really was twenty-five.  Their first son Harrison Fowler (Daniel and Sarah’s first grandchild) was two months old but was not included on the census record.  Their first daughter, Mary Jane, was born the next year in 1851.  Second son, Thomas was born the next year on September 12, 1852, and Sarah Ann joined the family on July 20, 1854.[1]

John and Julia had four children in the first five years of their marriage, two of whom died young: Thomas in 1853 and Sarah Ann in 1855.  Julia died suddenly at the age of twenty-five, on April 15, 1856 leaving John with two small children, Harrison and Mary Jane, to raise by himself.  Harrison moved to California, married and had several children.  Mary Jane married Thomas Davis.  She died childless in 1902.

A year after Julia died; John married his second wife Susannah Mason, who was the sister of Julia’s sister-in-law.  Susannah’s sister, Mary Ann had married Julia’s brother Christopher.   Susannah, age twenty-five, considered herself an “Old Maid” at the time of her July 15, 1857 marriage. [2] Thomas and Susannah had six children together.  Their youngest, Dora Mae Fowler married John Higgins, who was the son of Jackson Higgins and Sarah Burnett, making him John Fowler’s nephew through his first wife Julia.  Therefore, his nephew became his son-in-law.  John passed away in 1898; buried in the Blackburn cemetery.[3]

The family of Julia Higgins and John Fowler are:

1.     Harrison Fowler born (1850 - )

2.     Mary Jane Fowler born (1851 – 1902)

3.     Thomas Jackson Fowler (1852-1853)

4.     Sarah Ann Fowler (1854-1855)

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[1] 1850 Federal Census, Brooklyn, IL

[2] Museum, Schuyler County, 309

[3] Find A Grave, “John Fowler”, http://www.findagrave.com (accessed June 11, 2013)

A Busy Decade or Two

The 1860’s were a busy decade for the Higgins family.  At the beginning of the decade, Daniel and Sarah still had seventeen-year-old Henry and sixteen-year-old James living at home and helping Daniel with the farm.  Daniel worked forty acres of improved land - meaning it was cleared and used for grazing, grass, tillage or lying Fallow. [1] He also owned thirty acres of unimproved land, his farm was worth $700, the value of his farming implements and machinery was $30.  He owned $250 worth of livestock including two horses, two milk cows, six heads of cattle, and twelve hogs.  He produced fifty bushels of wheat, 300 bushels of Indian corn (feed corn), twenty bushels of potatoes, one ton of hay, three gallons of molasses, $15 worth of homemade products for home use or sale, and $40 worth of animals slaughtered during the year. [2] 

Jackson, Sarah and their son William Harrison farmed right next door to Daniel and Sarah.  Seventeen year old, Thomas Rice Higgins lived with them to help Jackson with his farm duties.  Even though Jackson was newly married and just twenty-eight years old, he was doing fairly well owning $1,000 in real estate and $1,000 in personal property.  His father’s worth at the time was just $1,000 total.  Jackson Higgins owned a total of 100 acres, sixty acres improved and forty unimproved.  He had $200 worth of farm machinery.  His life stock was worth $300; two horses, two milk cows, four cattle, two sheep and thirty hogs. He produced fifty bushels of wheat, 400 bushels of Indian corn, fourteen bushels of potatoes, sixteen bushels of buckwheat, 100 lbs of butter, two tons of hay, $20 in homemade manufactures and $80 in slaughtered animals.[3]

Christopher and Mary lived on the other side of Jackson with their infant daughter Martha.  Christopher was also farming but he did not own any land.  The Hillyer family lived next door to Christopher.  Five-year-old Thomas Hillyer would later become, Jackson and Christopher’s nephew-in-law when he eventually married their small niece Julia, who lived just a few houses away with her parents John W. and Lucinda Higgins.[4] 

John W. and Lucinda lived right next door to Lucinda’s parents and younger siblings, the William Burnett family.  John and Lucinda lived on forty acres improved land, 100 acres unimproved land.  His farm was worth $1,500 with $50 wrapped up in farm machinery. He owned two horses, two milk cows, seven head of cattle, and seven hogs giving him $300 worth of livestock.  He produced annually approximately fifty bushels of wheat, 300 bushels of Indian corn, twelve bushels of potatoes, and 200 lbs of butter, ten tons of hay, $40 home manufacture, and $150 worth of slaughtered animals.[5]

Henry waited until he was thirty-one to marry, making him the last to tie the knot.   He married Sarah Gossage, fourteen years his junior, in 1873.  They had two sons, the second one born after Henry’s mother, Sarah Higgins died in 1880.[6]

James Higgins never married but lived with various family members over the years.   After Sarah’s death, James became his dad’s constant companion.[7]  Daniel received the distinction of being the oldest living citizen of his part of Schuyler County in 1892.  Four years later, on February 9, 1896, he died peacefully while taking a nap at Jackson’s house at 1:35 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon.  All of his living children were at his bedside except for Christopher who had moved to Nevada.  Many of his grandchildren and great grandchildren and friends were present.  Jackson joined Sarah to rest in peace in the Blackburn Cemetery.[8] 

Daniel’s obituary written by his grandson, John R. Higgins states “To them (Daniel and Sarah) was born eight children – seven sons and one daughter – of whom four sons are living.”  We have a record for five of the seven sons.   Most likely, the other two were born during the seven-year gap between Christopher and Henry.  A local history written in 1892, the year of Daniel’s death alludes to even more children.  It states that, Sarah had ten children born to her with four still living at the time of her death.[9] 

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[1] “Agricultural Schedule 1860, Brooklyn, Schuyler, IL” http://www.census.gov/history/pdf/agcensusschedules.pdf, (accessed  May 8, 2013)

[2] Ibid.

[3] Agricultural Census 1860

[4] Federal Census 1860, Brooklyn, IL

[5] Agricultural Census 1860

[6] Schuyler County Il GenWeb Project, “Schuyler County Illinois Death Records”, http://schuyler.illinoisgenweb.org/schuylernewhome/Deaths/Deathrecords6.html , (Accessed on April 10, 2013)

[7] D Higgins Obituary, Rushville Times

[8] Ibid.,

[9] Biographical Review (Chicago,1892),280

The Civil War

When Abraham Lincoln, an Illinois native and slavery opponent, became the 16^th U.S. President in early 1861, the South seceded from the nation thus launching the civil War.[1]    The seceded states, known as the Confederacy, attacked and captured Fort Sumter on April 14, 1861.  In response to this attack, the following day, President Lincoln issued a formal Proclamation of War against the Confederacy.  He also issued a call for 75,000 volunteers to enlist for a period of three months to quell the rebellion.[2] 

Thousands of volunteers responded to this call.  During the war, 257,420 Illinois citizens served in the Union army, more than any other state except for New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio.[3]  The Higgins boys did not respond to President Lincoln’s call.  However, the 1861 and 1862 Militia Roll Census for Schuyler County, recording all able-bodied male citizens between the ages of eighteen and forty-five did include John and Jackson Higgins.[4]

The “Rebellion” lasted longer than the expected three months; it drug on for years.  By March 1863, the Union, needing more soldiers, passed the Conscription Act, which made all men between the ages of twenty and forty-five liable for military service. Paying a $300 fee or finding a substitute exempted eligible men from serving. This act seemed unfair to the poor and working class resulting in riots in New York.  It was not popular in Illinois either.[5]

Central Illinois residents lived in small, agrarian communities, Brooklyn being a typical community.  Both Northerners and Southerners populated the farming communities of central Illinois.  “The Yankee brought with him the Puritan ideas of the East, while the Southerner was of that jovial, generous disposition, with a fondness for fun and frolic.”[6]  The two groups generally worked well together socially but politics tended to be more divisive. During the decade preceding the civil war, intense political elections had fostered an atmosphere of political suspicions and violence between local party members.  Neighbors split over political issues making election time a hotbed for emotions and rhetoric.[7] 

Copperheads (generally Democrats) were a group of men with antiwar sentiments.  The Copperheads were not happy with the Conscription Act, feeling it was unfair and infringed on their rights and antiwar convictions.  In May 1863, a prominent copperhead, from Macon County about 100 miles east of Brooklyn, threatened to murder all the Republicans, intending to make the state a battleground and drive out all “pro-war” individuals.  Copperheads meet in community meetings to organize themselves and publish resolutions condemning the Conscription Act stating, “We will resist to the death all attempts to draft any of our citizens into the army.”[8]  Copperhead activity was prevalent in Schuyler County, and in counties to the north, east and south, even to the point of starting up their own militia to resist the draft.

To facilitate the Conscription Act, in March 1863, Congress created the Provost Marshal General’s Bureau.  The new Bureau operating on a predominantly state level oversaw army enlistments for state regiments, enrolled men for the draft and arrested deserters.[9]  Colonel James B. Fry became the head of Provost Marshal General Bureau.  He expanded the bureau by recruiting local farmers to work on the project, bringing a constant presence of federal authority into the Central Illinois communities.  In May 1863,  Army Captain B.F.  Westlake became the Provost Marshall for the ninth Congressional District, which included Schuyler, Pike, Brown, McDonough and Fulton Counties.

The local Copperheads created trouble for Captain Westlake and his team of enrollment officers.  Luke Elliot, a forty-eight year old farmer recruited to the enrollment work, reported to Captain Westlake of abuse, threats and being barred from completing his work by armed men while trying to conduct the military enrollment in a strong democratic region of Fulton County.

An enrollment officer, working under the direction of Captain Westlake canvassed Brooklyn to record “all persons subject to do military duty between the ages of twenty and thirty-five years, and all unmarried persons subject to do military duty above the age of thirty-five and under the age of forty-five.”[10]  Three of Daniel’s sons made the list, John W., Jackson, and Henry Higgins.  From these lists, Government agents drafted and examined eligible men to determine their fitness for service.  The Higgins brothers did not make the selection from the draft registration records to fight in the Civil War.  The Higgins family claimed to be democrats, which may have caused them to be more sympathetic to the Copperhead cause.

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[1] Joanne Freeman, Time Line of The Civil War, 1861, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwphtml/tl1861.html (accessed May 8, 2013)

[2] Timeline: The Civil War, National Park Service,  http://www.nps.gov/civilwar/customcf/timeline.html (accessed May 9)

[3] H. H. Lloyd & Co’s, Campaign Military Charts showing the Principal Strategic Places of Interest, Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Washington, www.fold3.com/image/260557643/ (accessed May 10)

[4] 1861 Militia Roll Census  Schuyler County , http://genealogytrails.com/ill/schuyler/CivilWar-1861MilitiaRollCensus2.html#H (accessed April 10, 2013)

[5] Freeman, Time Line

[6] Mansberger and Stratton, Archaeological Investigations, 2

[7] Jason Miller. “To Stop these Wolves’ Forays: Provost Marshals, Desertion, the Draft and Political violence on the Central Illinois Home Front,” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 105, no. 2-3 (Summer-Fall 2012): 202-224 http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.5406/jillistathistsoc.105.2-3.0202 (accessed June 10, 2013).

[8] Miller, Jason To Stop these Wolves

[9] Jake Ersland “A Snapshot in Time; Civil War Provost Marshal Records”,  National Archives at Kansas City, http://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/know-your-records/genealogy-fair/2011/handouts/civil-war-provost-marshal-records.pdf (accessed June 10, 2013)

[10] National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; “Consolidated Lists of Civil War Draft Registration Records (Provost Marshal General's Bureau; Consolidated Enrollment Lists, 1863-1865).” Ancestry.com. (accessed April 10, 2013)

1850’s: How the Family Grew

Julia was the first child in the family to marry.  She married Thomas Fowler in the summer of 1849.  They set up house right next to Sarah and Daniel.  The first Higgins grandchild, Harrison Fowler, was born the following year.  Sarah was probably present as Harrison entered the world, helping her daughter deliver the baby.   Julia presented them with three more grandchildren, Mary Jane, Thomas Jackson and Sarah Ann.  Thomas Jackson and Sarah Ann both died as babies, Thomas right before his first birthday and Sarah right after her first birthday.  Tragedy struck again when Julia Ann suddenly died at the age of 25, buried in the Blackburn Cemetery close to her two babies.[1]

In 1854, John Wesley at the age of twenty-four married to eighteen-year-old Lucinda Barnett.[2]  Their first daughter, Sarah named after her grandmother, was born in 1855.  She only lived for one year, dying the same year her Aunt Julia died.  Little Sarah’s death was the fourth family death in three years. John and Lucinda had eleven children during their twenty-six year marriage; at least four of their children lived to adulthood.  They raised their growing family in Brooklyn on a farm close to Daniel and Sarah.  Lucinda died in 1879, a year before her mother-in-law Sarah died.[3] 

Twenty-two year old Christopher was the third child to marry.  He married eighteen-year-old Margaret Ann Mason in the summer of 1857.  Their first daughter, Q Isabel Higgins, born the following summer, died at thirteen months of cholera,[4] another grandbaby buried in the Blackburn cemetery.  Christopher and Mary eventually had six daughters and one son.  Christopher moved his family to Nevada sometime between 1860 and 1866, where their last five children were born.  He was the only son to move away from Illinois.

Jackson married in 1858, a year after Christopher.  Twenty-six year old, Jackson married twenty-one year old Sarah Burnett.  They lived on a farm right next to Daniel and Sarah.  Christopher lived next to Jackson.  John Fowler, his brother-in-law lived on the other side of Daniel and Sarah.   John Wesley and his family lived a couple of farms away, next to Lucinda’s parents.  Jackson and Sarah’s first son William Harrison was born in 1859.[5]

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[1] Museum, Schuyler County,  254

[2] 1860 Federal Census  Brooklyn, Schuyler, Illinois, John Higgins”, ancestry.com, (accessed May 1, 2013)

[3] Illinois, Find A Grave Index, 1809-2012 ”Lucinda Higgins” http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi: (accessed 25 January 2013)

[4] US Federal Census Mortality Schedules, 1850-1885 “Isabel Higgins” ancestry.com (accessed May 19, 2013)

[5] 1860 Federal Census Brooklyn, Schuyler, IL

Religion, Civil Responsibilities and Social Interactions

The Higgins family was a religious family.  Daniel joined the Methodist Protestant Church, ten days after his 40^th 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]

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[1] D. Higgins Obituary, Rushville Times, Rushville, Illinois, Feb 20, 1896

[2] Dyson, Historical Encyclopedia, 842

[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

[7] Ibid., 68

[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

Feeding the Family

Sarah had many meals to cook for her family of growing children, especially her many sons.  It was common for farmers to eat a meal before milking, a meal at midmorning, one at noon, called “dinner”, one at mid-afternoon and finally “supper” in the evening.  One of Sarah’s regular chores was to make bread.  Surely, the smell of fresh baked bread beckoned the boys to the family meal.    Besides venison, wild turkeys and prairie hens, Sarah regularly fed the family pork since that is what they raised: swine were easier to raise and butcher than larger animals and easy to preserve through smoking or salting.  Corn and potatoes were also staples of the family’s diet most likely smothered in their fresh homemade butter.  In 1850 the family’s five “milch cows” produced 300 lbs of butter, the sale of which gave her cash or barter for family necessities.  As the family became established, Sarah probably had a vegetable garden.  The family planted fruit trees and; by 1880, the land, now worked by son Henry, had five fruit bearing apple trees. 

Henry recalled the excitement in the neighborhood when his father purchased a modern cook stove for his mother to replace the primitive fireplace she had been using to make the family meals.  This stove was the first of its kind to arrive in the area.  Word spread fast; “the day after its purchase neighbors from far and near came to see the wonderful invention.” [1] Sarah used this stove continuously until giving it away to Henry at the time of his marriage.

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[1] Dyson, Historical Encyclopedia, 841

Schooling

The Higgins children attended the Center Ridge School located in Section 10.  They attended this country school whenever they could but home duties took priority and sometimes they could not afford the cost of tuition.[1]   Even though the State of Illinois passed legislation in 1825 outlining a free school system paid for through taxation, the residents of Schuyler County preferred to pay school tuition rather than be subject to school taxation.   The 1827 amended law included the provision that “no person should be taxed for the maintenance of any school unless his consent was first obtained in writing.”[2]   By the time Daniel’s children attended Center Ridge School, tuition based schools were the norm. Their school was a rude log building; furnished with slab seats and desks[3] and undoubtedly privies (out-houses) in the schoolyard.   

If the students did not have a horse or cart to ride, they would walk to school to make the 8:00 a.m. start time.  The school day typically concluded at 4:00 p.m.  During the one-hour lunch breaks, the students usually ate corn cake baked in a Dutch oven.  Generally, there were two 15 minutes recesses during the day.  The students studied

“Arithmetic, grammar, spelling, reading, writing, (and I mean writing - not scribbling or printing) history of community and state, and later the United States. School opened each morning with a song or two and a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer. This prayer was not rattled off but repeated slowly and meaningfully when the teacher was really a good one.”[4]

The five-month school year started after the completed harvest.   Children younger than nine years old, attended a spring term but once they turned nine, it was customary for them to drop out of school and work on the farm during the spring semester.   These one-room country schools generally did not have the students separated by grades but rather by like ability to master the subject.[5]   In 1883, Jackson Higgins sold some of his land for the new Lower Center School.[6]

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[1] Dyson, Historical Encyclopedia, 841

[2] Howard F. Dyson “First School in 1826”, Rushville Times, 1918, http://schuyler.illinoisgenweb.org (accessed April 10, 2013)

[3] Dyson, Historical Encyclopedia, 841

[4] C.B Hedgcock, “Round Prairie School Remembrances”, Schuyler County IL Gen Web Project http://schuyler.illinoisgenweb.org/schuylernewhome/volunteers/schoolletter.html (accessed April 10, 2013)

[5] Hedgcock, Round Prairie School

[6] Museum, Schuyler County, 69