Eli Matthews (1804 - 1864) Was a Copperhead

Although he would probably have called himself a Peace Democrat.*

[Compromise with the South - Dedicated to the Chicago Convention. Wood engraving after Nast.

Illus. in: Harper's Weekly, 1864 Sept. 3. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.]

Here's a different view of the issue.

[Caption: War and Argument - Cold Steel and Cool Reason - having failed to restore the Union, it is supposed that the South may be bored into coming back. -  Illus. in: Harper's weekly, v. 8, no. 408 (1864 October 22), p. 688.

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.]

Eli, my 3X great grandfather, was born in Tennessee, his family moved to Illinois in 1818 when he was 14. He spent the rest of his life there in that part of Sangamon County which became Christian County in 1839. He and his wife Susan Hanon had nine children, six boys and three girls.** At least two of their sons served in the Union Army during Civil War.

Since it had been years since I have done any research on the Matthews line, this afternoon I decided to see what I could find at Newspapers.com.

[11 Mar 1863, Page 2 - Chicago Tribune at Newspapers.com]

Of course I had to find out more:

[12 Mar 1863, Page 2 - Chicago Tribune at Newspapers.com]

Eli sent this letter to his second son, Aaron V. Matthews who had joined Company L, Illinois 10th Cavalry Regiment and remained in that unit until December 30, 1864.*** Aaron's first wife Sarah Short had died around this time, leaving the couple's four children to the care of relatives.****

It's clear from the letter that Eli wasn't a particularly educated man but that didn't seem to hinder him from a public role in Christian County, He was the county's first postmaster, served as a Justice of the Peace and was appointed to several committees that represented the county.


*You can find more about these folks here.
**Their third child and oldest daughter Sarah married George W. Slater.
***About two months after his father's death.
****Aaron did marry again (in 1865) and he and his second wife Martha Jane Walker had five children together, one of whom he named Abraham, known as "Abe".


© 2020 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Related on Both Sides

Harry Tibbetts (born in Wyoming in 1915) and his siblings are apparently related to me through both my Hartley and Slater sides.

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday:Susan Hanon Matthews (1805 - 1884) Farm Wife & Mother

To date almost all my Wednesday posts have been about men in my family tree because it's easier to categorize the work men did while the women's contributions to the household have been taken for granted. Here's an example from the 1850 U.S. Census for the family of a pair of my maternal third great grandparents Susan (Hanon) and her husband Eli Matthews, who were then living in Christian County, Illinois.

[Year: 1850; Census Place: District 22, Christian, Illinois; Roll: M432_100; Page: 132B; Image: 27. Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

Read the instructions sent to the marshalls and their assistants for this census:

[census.gov]

At the time it simply wasn't contemplated that women could have an occupation or profession.

Susan and Eli were the first couple married in Sangamon County in 1823.* This quote taken from 2011 article in the Illinois Times titled Pioneer life here was hard on women and animals gives us a glimpse into aspects of a woman's life in Illinois.

Christiana Tillson and her husband moved to central Illinois from the east coast in 1822 and settled in Hillsboro; she wrote about her experiences and impressions of 19th century pioneers here. She said husbands often mistreated their wives. “If (the farmers) had slaves,” wrote Tillson, “the authority was exercised over them; if not, the wife was the willing slave.…” 

Men hunted for food, built cabins and farmed, while women helped farm, planted and harvested vegetables, picked, carded, and spun cotton, made the family’s clothes from cotton or wool they’d weaved, cooked, kept the house clean, took care of the children and animals, made candles, soap and butter, tapped maple trees for sap and made sugar, and birthed many children. 

While pioneer men visited friends or took off on long hunts with them, the women didn’t have time to visit friends, who usually lived several miles away. One such pioneer wife recorded that she only left her neighborhood three times in four and a half years. Men were able to play because their wives were taking care of things at home.**

I don't know any personal details about Susan's life but I'm sure it wasn't greatly different from this description. Susan had eight children, her youngest one William was born when she was 40. Eli died in 1864 and Susan survived him by 20 years.

*Christian County was formed from Sangamon County in 1839 along with parts of Montgomery and Shelby Counties.

**All of this reminded me of this humorous folk song:

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Michael Hening/Hanon (About 1760? - 1817), Immigrant & Settler

First of all, Michael was a very uncommon name in North America in the 18th and early 19th centuries. One of my maternal 4X great grandfathers, Michael Hening/Hanon is the only one of my forebears to carry that name.

We know very little about Michael, including when and where he was born. It's possible he's the Michael Henning who arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1767/68*, in which case he  could have been as young as five or six and probably would have been an indentured servant from Ireland.* There were two other males on the same list, James Hening and Simon Cameron, both of whom seem to have been associated with Michael in later years.

[(1762) An exact prospect of Charlestown, the metropolis of the province of South Carolina. Charleston Charleston Harbor South Carolina, 1762. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2012647508/.]

Michael's whereabouts and occupation are unknown over the next dozen year until his name appears as a private on payrolls for the Loyalist South Carolina Militia, along with a James Hening, but we haven't found any more information about his service and have no reason to think he was among those loyalists who left the new United States for Canada.

Instead we believe he's the Michael Hening who appears with his young family*** in the 1790 U.S. Census in Fairfield County, South Carolina. (Note that the following name on the census is that of a Simon Cameron.) His oldest four children, James, Hannah, Samuel and Jesse were born in South Carolina.

[Year: 1790; Census Place: Fairfield, South Carolina; Series: M637; Roll: 11; Page: 153; Image: 103; Family History Library Film: 0568151. Ancestry.com. 1790 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: First Census of the United States, 1790 (NARA microfilm publication M637, 12 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

By 1796 the Henings had moved west to near Nashville, Tennessee, where Michael and Sarah added two more children, Martin and Rhoda, but the family didn't remain there for long and by 1805**** had moved on to Butler County, Kentucky, where Susan and her youngest brother Elijah were born. (Note that there's a James Hening in the same district, although how close a neighbor he may have been in unknown because the list is alphabetical.)

[Year: 1810; Census Place: Butler, Kentucky; Roll: 5; Page: 362; Image: 00200; Family History Library Film: 0181350. Ancestry.com. 1810 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.

Original data: Third Census of the United States, 1810. (NARA microfilm publication M252, 71 rolls). Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

However the Henings/Hanons didn't stay in Kentucky either, moving on to Gallatin County, Illinois, in 1812 where Michael died in 1817.

[Ancestry.com. Illinois sesquicentennial edition of Christian County history [database on-line]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data: Illinois sesquicentennial edition of Christian County history. Jacksonville, Ill.,: Printed by Production Press, 1968.]

There are some probate records available online for Gallatin County and that's where I found this:

["Illinois Probate Records, 1819-1988," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939J-238Y-Y?cc=1834344&wc=SFK5-PTT%3A162587801%2C162598801 : 20 May 2014), Gallatin > Index to estates and guardians 1815-1900 vol 1 > image 18 of 74; county courthouses, Illinois.]

Given how uncommon the name Michael is, I wouldn't be surprised if this records refers to my ancestor. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to locate any other probate records regarding him. (Note: the #44 refers to the box in which the record was placed and is not in chronological order.)

By the way, here's how I'm related to him.

[Ancestry.com]

*On the other hand, his daughter Susan Hanon Matthews (my 3X great grandmother) told the enumerator for the 1880 federal census that her father was born in North Carolina.
**You can learn more about children as indentured servants in colonial times here (PDF).
***We don't know the surname of his wife Sarah.
****To date we haven't located them in the 1800 U.S. Census.

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Throwback Thursday: Speedy, the 150+ Year Old Galapagos Tortoise, and Some Perspective on Time

Speedy, the San Diego Zoo's oldest animal (about 150 years old in 2011)

A few years ago, while visiting the San Diego Zoo's galapagos tortoise exhibit, I read on the placard that Speedy was over 150 years old.  I had heard about tortoises living a very long time before, but for the first time I realized that Speedy was alive when the American Civil War was raging.  People who were born in the late 18th and 19th centuries could have seen him.

All of those ancestors of mine who were alive in that time period, a small sample including Eli Matthews, Susan Hanon, Mary Henderson, and Jesse Webb (see below), a time that might as well have been 1,000 years ago in my perspective, their lives overlapped this creature's lifespan.

Speedy's contemporary, my 2rd great grandfather Jesse David Webb (1860-1935), courtesy of Olive Kennedy.

Speedy has outlived every single person who was born before and during the Civil War.  The oldest Civil War veteran, Albert Woolson, died in 1956, at a mere 109 years.

Albert Woolson, from Wikipedia

As of now only about 3 people are verified to have even been born in the 1899.  Everyone else was born in the 1900s and after.



© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Eli Matthews (1804? - 1864?), Farmer, Postmaster, Justice of the Peace

This maternal great great great grandfather (the husband of Susan Hanon) was born in Tennessee, probably in the part of Smith County that's now Warren County*, in about 1804. Unfortunately the U.S. Census records for Tennessee are missing for the years 1800 and 1810.

[Tennessee. Drawn by S. Lewis. Engraved by Lawson. (Published by John Conrad & Co., Philadelphia. 1804)

David Rumsey Historical Map Collection]

We don't know if the Matthews family remained in Tennessee until they settled in what's now Christian County, Illinois, shortly after Martin Hanon moved his mother and siblings there in 1818.

[Ancestry.com. Illinois sesquicentennial edition of Christian County history [database on-line]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data: Illinois sesquicentennial edition of Christian County history. Jacksonville, Ill.,: Printed by Production Press, 1968.]

And as we've seen, the Matthews were living close to Sarah Hanon's household in the 1820 U.S. Census, just three years before Eli married Susan.

[Ancestry.com. 1820 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.Original data: Fourth Census of the United States, 1820. (NARA microfilm publication M33, 142 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

The 1830 and 1840 U.S. Census records for this branch of the Matthews family, located first in Sangamon County and then back in Christian County, were already covered in my post about Susan so I won't repeat them here but we do know something more about what Eli was doing between those two census years.

In about 1835 Eli and his brother-in-law Martin Hanon bought a mill "some ten miles north-west of Taylorville."

[Ancestry.com. Illinois sesquicentennial edition of Christian County history [database on-line]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data: Illinois sesquicentennial edition of Christian County history. Jacksonville, Ill.,: Printed by Production Press, 1968.]

There are a number of index-only public land purchases made by Eli beginning in about 1835, and he's described as a Justice of the Peace for Christian County starting in 1839.**

[Ancestry.com. Illinois sesquicentennial edition of Christian County history [database on-line]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data: Illinois sesquicentennial edition of Christian County history. Jacksonville, Ill.,: Printed by Production Press, 1968.]

Also in 1839, he was appointed to a commission "to view and locate a road from Taylorville, ina north-western direction, to Elgan's mill, on the lower South Fork."

[Ancestry.com. Illinois sesquicentennial edition of Christian County history [database on-line]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data: Illinois sesquicentennial edition of Christian County history. Jacksonville, Ill.,: Printed by Production Press, 1968.]

And on April 17, 1841, he was named the first Postmaster of Taylorville Township, operating out of the Taylorville Courthouse.

[Ancestry.com. U.S., Appointments of U. S. Postmasters, 1832-1971 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. This collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors.

Original data: Record of Appointment of Postmasters, 1832-1971. NARA Microfilm Publication, M841, 145 rolls.

Records of the Post Office Department, Record Group Number 28. Washington, D.C.: National Archives.]

Early in 1850, Eli was chosen as one of seven delegates chosen to represent Taylorville in the forthcoming railroad convention.

[Date: Saturday, February 2, 1850;  Paper: Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield, IL)   Page: 2  

This entire product and/or portions thereof are copyrighted by NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004

Source: GenealogyBank.com]

Besides the regular population count, the 1850 U.S. Census included a Selected Non-Population Schedule for Agriculture so we have a view of what farmer Eli was growing on his farm valued at $2,000.***

[Ancestry.com. Selected U.S. Federal Census Non-Population Schedules, 1850-1880 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.]

The 1855 Illinois State Census lists Eli as head of household, everyone else is a number.

[Ancestry.com. Illinois, State Census Collection, 1825-1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008. Original data: Illinois State Census, 1825. Microfilm. Record Series 103.003, 1 roll. Illinois State Archives, Springfield, Illinois.]

And 1860 brings us another Selected Non-Population Schedule for Agriculture**** to supplement the enumeration of the population. This is the last record we have for Eli and he doesn't appear on the 1865 Illinois State Census so he almost certainly died before then.

[Ancestry.com. Selected U.S. Federal Census Non-Population Schedules, 1850-1880 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.]

*His father, another Claiborne Matthews, has a land record for 50 acres in Warren County as early as 1813.
**His land purchases continued at least through 1854.
***Eli Matthews is enumerated on line 26 on this schedule.
****Eli's record is on line 15.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Susan Hanon (1805 - 1884)

Michael Hening (later Hanon), the father of this maternal great great great grandmother, was most likely born in Northern Ireland and as a young man emigrated to South Carolina, landing in Charlestown in about 1767/68. A dozen years later his name appears as a private on payrolls for the Loyalist South Carolina Militia along with a James Hening.*

Unlike some other British sympathizers he didn't leave the colony after the end of the war, remaining in South Carolina until about 1796 when he, his wife Sarah** and his young family moved to Tennessee and then after a few years on to Butler County, Kentucky, where his daughter Susan was born in about 1805. She appears as one of the two "Free White Persons - Females - Under 10" in the 1810 U.S. Census.

[Kentucky. Drawn by S. Lewis & eng'd. by W. Harrison, Junr. (Published by John Conrad & Co., Philadelphia. 1804) David Rumsey Historical Map Collection]

[Ancestry.com. 1810 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Third Census of the United States, 1810. (NARA microfilm publication M252, 71 rolls). Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

But the Henings left Kentucky in 1812, moving to the Illinois Territory where Michael died in 1817 in Gallatin County when Susan was about 12 years old.

The following year her 19-year old brother Martin, having assumed responsibility for his mother and siblings, moved everybody to land in what is now Christian County, Illinois, becoming the first white settlers there, according to local history.*** It's about this time that we find the surname Hanon replacing Hening in records.

[Ancestry.com. Illinois sesquicentennial edition of Christian County history [database on-line]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data: Illinois sesquicentennial edition of Christian County history. Jacksonville, Ill.,: Printed by Production Press, 1968.]

In an 1818 Illinois Territorial Census of Bond County,**** Sarah Hanon's household had no white males 21 or older and five other white inhabitants. It's likely that their neighbor Jesse Hanon was Michael's brother.

[Illinois census returns, 1810, 1818 by Margaret Cross Norton, b. 1891

Source: Internet Archive, contributed by the Family History Library]

By the 1820 U.S. Census, Sarah "Hinnon" was the head of a household consisting of herself and her two youngest children, 15-year old Susan and 12-year old Elijah. They were living in Fork Prairie, Madison County, later to be part of Sangamon County, Illinois. (And Clibon Mathes (i.e., Claiborn Matthews) is nearby.

[Ancestry.com. 1820 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.Original data: Fourth Census of the United States, 1820. (NARA microfilm publication M33, 142 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

Three years later, Susan Hanon married Eli Matthews on September 21, 1823, in the first wedding in Southfork Township, Christian County, Illinois.

In the 1830 U.S. Census, Eli, Susan and their two oldest children, sons Aaron and Martin were living among relatives in Sangamon County. Susan's brother Martin was living nearby and Eli's parents were too. Susan's mother and brothers James and Elijah were not far away either.

[Ancestry.com. 1830 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Fifth Census of the United States, 1830. (NARA microfilm publication M19, 201 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

By the 1840 U.S. Census (and probably as early of 1835) the Matthews had moved back to Christian County and more children had been added to the family, including their oldest daughter Sarah, my great great grandmother, born in 1832. Probably the older male living with them is Eli's widowed father Claiborn.

[Ancestry.com. 1840 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Sixth Census of the United States, 1840. (NARA microfilm publication M704, 580 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

And the 1850 U.S. Census found them still in Christian County where Susan finally got a record in her own name, although for some reason her place of birth is listed as Ohio. All but one of the children are still living at home. Jesse Hanon (at the bottom of the page) is almost certainly Susan's brother, born about 1795 in South Carolina.

[Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

At the end of the next decade, the household had shrunk to Eli, Susan and 19 year old Thomas and 12 year old William.***** Another son, Elijah and his family are living nearby.

[Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1860 U.S. census, population schedule. NARA microfilm publication M653, 1,438 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.]

The Civil War must have been an anxious time for Susan because at least two of her sons served in Illinois regiments, Aaron in the 10th Cavalry Regiment and Martin in the 123rd Infantry, and Elijah may have also been a soldier. Happily all survived the war but Eli died sometime before 1865, as there's no record of him in the Illinois State Census of that year. The exact death date and place of his burial are not known.

So the 1870 U.S. Census found Susan living in the same household as her son William B. and his family in Campbell Township, Douglas County, Missouri. The head of the household was a blacksmith named Ballard Wilson, with no know connection to the Matthews.******

[Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1870 U.S. census, population schedules. NARA microfilm publication M593, 1,761 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.Minnesota census schedules for 1870. NARA microfilm publication T132, 13 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.]

The last record we have of Susan Hanon Matthews is in the 1880 U.S. Census which shows her back in Christian County, Illinois, living with her son Thomas and his family in Buckhart Township.

[Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. 1880 U.S. Census Index provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints  Original data: Tenth Census of the United States, 1880. (NARA microfilm publication T9, 1,454 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

Unverified sources give Susan's death year as 1884 in Illinois but so far no record has been found to support this.

 *Probably a relative, perhaps a brother. There is also a James Hening in the same part of Kentucky in the 1810 census but as this enumeration was recorded in alphabetical order we can't tell how close together their residences were.
**Sarah's surname is unknown, although we can speculate.
***Note the mention of their neighbors, the Matthews family.
****Bond County was formed out of Madison County in 1817.
*****The son who was born between Thomas and William, James H.P. Matthews, had died in 1854 at age 10.
******In this census the surname is spelled Mathias. For a discussion of the various ways the name was spelled before the 20th century, see this at the excellent Southern Matthews website.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.