Deborah Sherman

Notes:

[Addressed to: Miss Electa Moor, Juliet, Will County, Ill, probably late February, 1841 or 1842.]

Dear children, I now write to let you know that we are well. Owing to the cold weather we did not arrive at Andover till the eighth day. We met with no accident, but suffered severely with the cold, but did not quite freeze. We found Morrison and Mary living in the company house. They had been expecting us a long time. Our house was not done so we had to move in with them; not very convenient. Mary was invited and accordingly went to a splendid party at xxx Thompson's for the purpose of celebrating Gen. Washington's birthday. Morrison has bought a quarter section of land at Red Oak Grove with a small house on it to which they will move the first of April, so he will not go to Missouri this year, but says he shall before a great while. After paying for his land he will have his mare, six oxen, one cow and calf, twelve hens left. The distance from us is eight miles. Morrison and Mary, your father and I have been to Rock Island, found the market very poor. English goods high and had hard work to get a shilling per pound for butter, brought our cheese back, bought nothing worth mentioning. When the boats come with goods will be cheaper and more plentyful. If Eliza has money she had better buy all her little articles at Juliet [Joliet] for there's not much of a store kept here. She had better fetch her coverlet yarn too and get it woven at Richland Grove. Your father and Reubin work like niggers at splitting rails and have got almost done. They have neither of them spent an hour of needless time since we came here, and I am making shirts for the boys. We feel a great deal of anxiety about you and especially at night all the rest are asleep. The boys must take good care of everything or Dan will not get that black lamb. Electa, your father says you must take care of the pork and if the brine gets out put in more water and salt. I wish you would twist all the stocking yarn for there is not a wheel within ten miles of this xxx. Mary wrote us a letter long ago, which she expected we had received before we left home. If it's in the post office now let it stay there. I want you should write as soon as you get this. Write everything about everybody, about the calves, lambs, and everything else. I want to see you all and especially that poor little thing. Give my love to Mrs. Waldrum [?] and family, to William, Mrs. Hartshorn [?], Pruggs Billings, and all that enquire. I expect your father will be out as soon as the grass will do. Write. Tell Dan that the fellow who draws off this sheet wants to see him and John. I think Mary was thankful for the present that you sent her especially the two yards. Your father wants John to tell Mr. Davison he should always doctor all the calves, lambs, pigs in season, except that one that runs. You must correct the mistakes and straighten the lines yourselves for I cannot spend time. Adieu for the present. Signed John & D. [Deborah] Moore [A list of names of family members that presumably should read the letter is on the left margin.- Mr. & Mrs. Davison, Electa and Eliza Moore, John & Dan Moore.]

[October 2008, revised notes, by Bill Pixley. regarding letter written by Deborah Sherman Moor.]

Capt. John and Deborah Sherman Moor(e) arrived in IL in 1836 from NH. They stayed at New Lenox Twp., near Joliet several years before settling in Andover, Henry, IL. By that time, Priscilla and Mary, the oldest daughters were married. Priscilla and John Davison would remain in New Lenox because of the huge acreage they owned. Mary C. and Morrison Francis would have to acquire their own land and went to Henry Co., IL, apparently with a land company or firm whose mission was to settle easterners in Henry Co. According to Morrison Francis' obituary, "within a year or two of his marriage"--23 Apr 1840--"Mr. Francis opened a farm on the prairie south of here"--Andover--"near Red Oak Grove". Since the letter states that Morrison was about to move to Red Oak Grove, it would likely have been in 1841 or 1842. A search of land records should establish a more exact date. The party, celebrating "General Washington's birthday" (22 Feb), indicates the Moores and Reuben S. Sherman traveled from Joliet to Andover about February. So we have a date of February or March 1841 or 1842, when the letter was written. The "Reubin" in the letter working with John, must have been the son of Deborah's brother, Reubin, Jr. This boy, Reubin S. Sherman, was born in 1823, of Reubin, Jr., and Ruth Smith Sherman. He did not remain in IL, but returned to NH and married, 16 Sep 1847, Adeline Little and fathered four children. He died in Lisbon, NH, 14 Feb 1896, age 72.

Henry County, IL, biographical sketch (pg. 227) for Morrison Francis who was no longer living (d. 1873), so information was given totally by his wife, Mary Crary Francis:

"Mrs. Mary C. Moore Francis was born Sept. 13, 1820, in Lisbon, NH. She is of Irish extraction, and her grandfather, John Moore, was a native of NH. He also married a lady of NH birth and they raised seven (sic) children. John J. (sic) Moore, the father of Mrs. Francis, was born in Bedford, Merrimac Co, NH. He was a farmer and married Deborah, daughter of Reuben Sherman. She was born in New Hampshire and came with her husband in the Spring of 1836 to Hickory Creek, Will Co., Ill. In 1840 they came to Henry County and located in the township of Andover, where they died."

Encyclopedia of Biography, Walter Goodman Cowles sketch, pg. 29.

Giving a descendancy of Moor(e)......"their son Capt. John Moor (1790) and his wife, Deborah (Sherman) Moor, the latter named daughter of Reuben Sherman, and they were the parents of Mary C. Moor, aforementioned."

Baral Cache-- Capt John Moore, Jr b. Bedford, Merrimack Co, N.H.. on 29th Oct, 1790; d. 1849-50
John Moore and Deborah Sherman, b. June 3, 1787
Deborah Sherman (dau. Ruben Sherman & Priscilla Welch (or Webb) Concord, Grafton Co, State of New Hampshire on the 3rd day of June 1787 John Moore and Deborah Sherman, m. Nov 24, 1814

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=azgnilrets02&id=I38005

Deborah married John Moore on 24 Nov 1814 in Lisbon, Grafton Co, New Hampshire. John was born about 1787 in Bedford, Hillsboro Co, New Hampshire; died after 1825 in Andover, Henry Co, Illinois. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

[Letter from Mary Crary Moore Francis to her husband, Morrison, who was traveling either to or from the California gold fields. [Letter transcribed as originally written. whp]

Andover July 22 1852

Dear Morison

It is only three weeks since I wrote you but thinking you may not get the letter I thought best to write again soon. I received your letter last week written from Fort Larramie was pleased to hear you were getting along so well

Little Nelson Ayres died the 5th of July after an illness of about five weeks

Mrs Esbian is dead she left an infant a few hours old There has a great many s(w)eeds come here and they say there is seventy more coming tomorrow. Father has not paid that note yet Mortimer went to see him last spring he could not pay him and not willing to pay him but six per cent interest he wrote to him and said he would sue him. Father wrote answer that he would good interest if he would wait longer

Lennings has not paid yet I believe Mortimer got 50 dollars on his note

The meadow grass is cut and put up in good order I think


August 25th

You see by the date it is one month since I commenced this letter we were all in good health at that time but not so now. Our dear Little Fanny is very sick, she has been so six days, she has a disorder of the brain.

The third day after she was taken she had a fit which lasted five hours Dr Dunn arrived before she came out of it and is now attending her she was better a day or two but I very much fear she will take a relapse if she does it will in all probability prove fatal

I am waiting by her cradle tonight her health has been poor since she had the measles she has had the infantile remittent fever she was sick four or five weeks I know not how it will terminate with her but fear the worst I shall not send this until I do If I ever felt your presence was necessary at home it is now Friends and neighbors are very kind but they cannot fill your place.

Sept 6 our dear child is yet living but that is all this is the fourth day she has had spasms and to day they have lasted the most of the day. O the agony that she is now suffering I cannot stay with her and have taken up the pen to write a little. I think she cannot live through the night I shall be thankful when she is at rest

Sept 10 Morison our lovely baby is now at rest she passed away about twelve Oclock Tuesday night She is now an angel at the right hand of her saviour

Yesterday her little body was put in the cold grave. She was sick 18 days We wched her 16 nights and for eight or ten days expected one would be her last O what agony I have felt at thought of parting with her but her suffering was so great that I felt relieved when she was gone



Composite and abbreviation of two large obituaries.

In Memoriam. On Wednesday, Sept. 4th, 1907, ocurred the death of Mrs. Mary C. Francis at the home of her son-in-law, Walter G. Cowles, in Hartford, CT. The remains were brought to Cambridge for interment, arriving here on Saturday morning, accompanied by her daughter, Mrs. Keagy, and granddaughter, Mrs. Clementine Goodrich. The funeral service which was largely attended was held at the home of her daughter, Mrs. L. F. Dimick, Sunday afternoon, conducted by Rev. A. Valiant, of the Baptist church. The floral tributes were many and beautiful. A male quartet consisting of C. B. Taylor, L. E. Telleen, L. A. Taylor, and Roy Metz, sang several appropriate selections. The bearers were J. P. Hand, C. M. Turner, C. L. Gruey, J. F. York, H. M. Wier, and R. M. Hinman. The burial was made in the Cambridge cemetery.
The relatives from out-of-town at the funeral were: D. P. Goodrich, Hartford, Conn., Mrs. T. M. Shallenbertger, Council Bluffs, IA, Genevieve Carpenter, Menomonee, Wis., Harlow N. Higinbotham, Chicago, and James Davenport, Galesburg.
It is not an easy task to adequately review the life of one who has lived eighty-seven long years of usefulness--a life so complete in its every phase. This life had fulfilled every duty, fulfilled every obligation, and than the promise held by the average lot.

Mrs. Mary Crary Francis was born at Lisbon, New Hampshire, on the 13th of September, 1820, where she resided until 16 years of age. She was the daughter of Capt. and Mrs. John Moore, and with them and her two brothers and three sisters, came out into the west in 1836. For three years Mary Moore lived in Joliet, Illinois, where she met and married Morrison Francis, a young southerner who had come to the prairies to make his fortune. Mr. and Mrs. Francis made their first home in Red Oak, and one year later they settled permanently in Andover, where they lived many years and until some time after the death of Mr. Francis in 1874. Mr. and Mrs. Francis alike were gifted with unbounded energy and praiseworthy ambition. Mr. Francis saw great possibilities in Illinois soil and his holdings at one time amounted to about 1800 acres of choice land in and about the present village of Andover.
In 1881, Mrs. Francis left the old homestead at Andover, and since then has made Cambridge her home--tho' she has spent the greater part of this time in both the east and the west among relatives and her many friends.
To Mr. and Mrs. Francis were born eight children, six of whom reached maturity and of which number three now survive her; Mrs. Evelyn G. Dimick, Mrs. Lyde A. Keagy, and Frank F. Francis. Nine grandchildren also remain to mourn the loss of one of the noblest women our community has ever known.
Mrs. Francis was a woman whose entire life might be an example to all, and her achievements such as are worthy of more than this brief mention. Her patience in days of sorrow, and her calm integrity thro' the vicissitudes of fortune should be an inspiration to us all. She possessed, to a remarkable degree, that keener judgment and strength of mind, more often found in the sterner sex, but it was tempered with the broad charity and perception of the highest type of a noble intellectual woman. Her ability to grasp and retain a knowledge of affairs has been a great pleasure to all of her intimates, and she continued to keep this wonderful interest in all things as long as her days were spared. Few women who have lived in the more conservative period of her generation, have possessed that broad scope of wisdom and far seeing judgment as was hers. As a wife, a mother, and a member of society, she has been pre-eminently one of the truest type of women.
Her life necessarily covered a period that could not escape its tragedies, and many, many days of hope and uncertainty. When we know that she was the wife of a pioneer, one of the men whose fearless efforts have helped to make this one-time wilderness a garden in the middle west, then we realize something of her bravery and energy. It was partly through her inspiration that Morrison Francis undertook that perilous journey across the plains in 1849; it was her practical hand that helped prepare for that long, long hardship--and it was her own wonderful bravery and resource of mind and heart that sustained her thro' those months of uncertainty, with four small children as a consolation and a care.
Mary Francis' life has been one comprehensive whole of right doing and right thinking, and she leaves a memory dear to her own, and the large community, which has known her, will be conscious of a loss of a friend, a mentor, and a splendid example of womanhood.



Henry County, IL, biographical sketch (pg. 227) for Morrison Francis who was no longer living (d. 1873), so information was given totally by his wife, Mary Crary Francis:

"Mrs. Mary C. Moore Francis was born Sept. 13, 1820, in Lisbon, NH. She is of Irish extraction, and her grandfather, John Moore, was a native of NH. He also married a lady of NH birth and they raised seven (sic) children. John J. (sic) Moore, the father of Mrs. Francis, was born in Bedford, Merrimac Co, NH. He was a farmer and married Deborah, daughter of Reuben Sherman. She was born in New Hampshire and came with her husband in the Spring of 1836 to Hickory Creek, Will Co., Ill. In 1840 they came to Henry County and located in the township of Andover, where they died."

Encyclopedia of Biography, Walter Goodman Cowles sketch, pg. 29.

Giving a descendancy of Moor(e)......"their son Capt. John Moor (1790) and his wife, Deborah (Sherman) Moor, the latter named daughter of Reuben Sherman, and they were the parents of Mary C. Moor, aforementioned."


Baral Cache--Capt John Moore, Jr b. Bedford, Merrimack Co, N.H.. on 29th Oct, 1790; d. 1849-50

John Moore and Deborah Sherman, b. June 3, 1787 Deborah Sherman (dau. Ruben Sherman & Priscilla Welch (or Webb) Concord, Grafton Co, State of New Hampshire on the 3rd day of June 1787
John Moore and Deborah Sherman, m. Nov 24, 1814

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=azgnilrets02&id=I44365

Mary married Morrison Francis on 23 Apr 1840 in Henry Co, Illinois (near Joliet). Morrison was born on 05 Jun 1816 in Greensburg, Westmoreland Co, Pennsylvania; died on 28 Oct 1873 in Andover, Henry Co, Illinois; was buried in Morristown Cem, Andover, Henry Co, Illinois. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Evelyn married Laertes Fuller Dimick on 18 Jan 1865 in Henry Co, Illinois. Laertes was born on 17 Dec 1838 in Berlin (now Swedona), Mercer Co, Illinois; died on 13 Jan 1920 in Cambridge, Henry Co, Illinois. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]